LONDON – Hyderabad Deccan funds case which Pakistan lost to India in theUK Court is the 70 years old controversy between Pakistan and India.
UK High Court on Wednesday upheld New Delhi’s claims on the rights over thewealth of the Nizam of Hyderabad, worth GBP 35 million.
The court said that Pakistan has “no stake in the claim” in this70-year-old case. It is to be noted that Pakistan had repeatedly claimedrights on the Nizam’s fund that is being held by London’s NationalWestminster Bank and Wednesday’s court ruling is yet another humiliationfor Islamabad at global stage.
The Fund had been held in the account of the High Commissioner of Pakistanto the UK Rahimtoola since September 1948. It had been the subject ofearlier proceedings in 1950s in which the UK House of Lords set asideproceedings brought by the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad claiming the Fund asPakistan invoked state immunity.
In 2013, Pakistan commenced fresh proceedings herself, thereby waivingstate immunity. A subsequent attempt by Pakistan to discontinue theproceedings was rejected as an abuse of process by the UK Court.
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The Court has issued a wide-ranging judgment today after analyzingdocumentation going back more than 70 years and embracing the law ofconstructive and resulting trusts, unjust enrichment, foreign act of state,illegality and limitation of actions.
The Court rejected arguments advanced by Pakistan that the dispute wasnon-justiciable, either in whole or in part; that the doctrine ofillegality somehow barred recovery; or that the claims of other partieswere time barred.
