Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

The Nizam heirs’ endless property disputes are costing Hyderabad its heritage

A court has narrowed the legal fight over the estates of the last Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, to his descendants. But such long-running feuds often take a toll on Hyderabad’s historic buildings.

There’s a popular joke in Hyderabad about discussions around ancestral property: “It’s not a Hyderabadi family unless it’s tangled in a property dispute.” While amusing, many Hyderabadis know there is some truth in it, especially when it comes to erstwhile noble and aristocratic families. If not sold or disposed of, deodis (havelis) in the city often lie in disrepair because of prolonged property disputes.

No family symbolises this better than the erstwhile royal Asaf Jahi dynasty (1724–1948). Mukarram Jah, the titular eighth Nizam who died in 2023, was embroiled in several suits throughout his life, both from outside and within the family, right until his final years. His wealth was inherited from his grandfather, Mir Osman Ali Khan, who was once considered the richest man in the world in the 1930s.

In the latest development, a local court in Hyderabad has rejected the claim of a group called the Sahebzadagan Society — which says it represents 4,500 descendants of the first to sixth Nizams — to implead itself in an ongoing property dispute between Osman Ali Khan’s descendants. Interestingly, the court specifically stated that the properties in question are private and belong only to the last Nizam.

Osman Ali Khan, the seventh and last Nizam, died in 1967 leaving behind immense wealth and........

© ThePrint