Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, Telangana and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in connection with the lease issue of Nizam Palace. A petition was filed in the HC seeking cancellation of the 99-year lease of Nizam’s Kothi Asifia Palace at Bolarum. It must be noted that the 28-acre Nizam property was given on lease to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at a nominal rent of Rs 1 per annum in 1985. The lease agreement was signed between the state and the Bhavan’s management. Bhavan’s management established Rajaji International Institute of Public Affairs and Administration on the property at Bolarum. Shafiya Sakina, the great-granddaughter of Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan, filed a petition challenging the power the state over a property that belongs to them. Hearing the said petition, Justice AV Sesha Sai of the High Court issued notices to the Centre, its defence estates officer, Telangana and president of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and gave them three-week time to file their replies. It was claimed in the petition by the petitioner counsel Sripada Prabhakar that neither the then united AP nor Telangana possess authority to lease out the property as the state was not the owner. The Centre came under the scrutiny as it was centre’s obligation to protect Nizam’s properties, which it failed to do.

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