After 5 Decades, the Sindh High Court resolves Fatima Jinnah’s Heritage Property Dispute

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued a landmark judgement on Thursday, rejecting the legal claims against Qasr-e-Fatima, also known as Mohatta Palace.
The SHC court was presided over by Justice Aadil Arab, who gave the verdict in favor of settling a 52-year-old, long-standing dispute over Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah’s legacy land in Clifton.
The court’s verdict determined that the Palace will be repurposed to build an all-girls medical and dentistry institution.
Back in 2021, a single-judge SHC bench led by Justice Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan issued a judgment requiring the proposed institution to have a dormitory. This line of action was reached after peaceful talks between the plaintiffs and defendants, which resulted in a consensus to create the medical College.

The applicants’ and interveners’ lawsuits were essentially rejected by the provincial highest court.

The court decided on the petitioners’ Civil Miscellaneous Application (CMA), recommending the inclusion of specified documents as evidence. It was stressed that the absence of any document at this point cannot be considered fatal, especially because evidence has previously been submitted.
Because the case involves the administration of privately owned property, the court believes that the petitioners and interveners are not required nor relevant participants in the continuing proceedings. As a result, neither the Trust nor the adjacent residents have a valid cause of action in this matter.

As heirs or persons related to the dead owner of the property in question, the interveners have no legal standing. Inclusion of interveners as parties, whether found essential or relevant, would result in no significant conclusion in the estate’s continuing administration.
As previously stated, evidence relevant to the case has already been recorded, and the proceedings are now at the Final Arguments phase. As a result, the incorporation of additional parties is unjustified.

“Father and Mother of the Nation gave an area of approximately 197,00,000 acres to the people of Pakistan and had let them use this huge chunk of land as per their own discretion and choice, and out of that millions of acres of land, when only one acre in the form of Qasar-e-Fatima is interested to be used per the wishes and Will of the Founders, one wonders how ungrateful we are to even object to such a use, that too for the

It’s worth noting that the court has been monitoring the administration of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s assets since 1971, and the proceedings have now reached the Final Arguments stage.

Following long consideration, the legal heirs agreed that they would have no objections or claims over Qasar-e-Fatima (Mohatta Palace) if the land is used in line with Fatima Jinnah’s wishes for the creation of a Medical/Dental College.