ZAINAB BEGUM ALIAS VARALAKSHMI Vs. KHURSHEED BEGUM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition, under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to revise an order made by the Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Secunderabad, rejecting the petitioners application for leave to sue in forma pauperis.

(2.) For a better appreciation of the background of this litigation, it is convenient to give a brief resume of the antecedent events. Nawab Sir Salar Jung, a wellknown nobleman o Hyderabad, died intestate on 2/03/1949, leaving behind him besides extensive Jagir properties, a personal estate of considerable value. On 23/05/1949, the Military Governor issued Regulation No. 34 of 1358 Fasli, constituting a Committee, known as the Salar June Estate Committee, to administer the assets of the Nawab within the territory of the erstwhile State of Hyderabad. A little later, H. E. H. the Nizam constituted a Commission consisting of two Judges of the High Court, to hold an enquiry regarding WIRASAT to the estate of the Nawab with regard to his Jagir and non-Jagir properties. Among jother matters, this commission was directed to enquire and report as to whether the Jagir property of the Nawab escheated to the Government by reason of his having died issueless. On 12/11/1949, the Governor-General of India promulgated Ordinance No. 29 of 1949 providing tor the administration of the assets, in India, of the late Nawab, pending determination of the question as to who was legally entitled to succeed to such assets. Under the Ordinance, all the assets in India of the Nawab were vested in the Committee constituted under the Regulation issued by the Military Governor, and it was provided that the Committee should administer those assets subject to the control of the Central Government. While so the Constitution of India came into force on 26/01/1950, and the erstwhile State of Hyderabad was integrated into the Indian Union. The Nawab Salar Jung Bahadur (Administration of Assets) Act (XXXVI of 1950), which became law on 19/04/1950, replaced Ordinance No. 29 of 1949. The Act substantially reproduced the provisions of the Ordinance.

(3.) While the work of the Commission constituted by H.E.H. the Nizam was in progress, a Full Bench of the High Court of Hyderabad issued a writ of certiorari quashing the proceedings before the Commission as also a writ of prohibition restraining the Commission from proceeding further with the enquiry.