UK high court orders Pakistan to pay millions as legal costs in Hyderabad case

The Royal Courts of Justice in London has ordered Pakistan to must pay 65 percent of the legal costs of the parties on the winning side which include the Nizam's descendants in India.

London: A UK High Court has ordered Pakistan to pay millions of pounds in legal costs after it ruled in favour of India in a decade-old legal dispute over funds belonging to the Nizam of Hyderabad at the time of Partition in 1947.

At the end of the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Thursday, Justice Smith ordered that Pakistan must pay 65 percent of the legal costs of the parties on the winning side which include Nizam's descendants; Prince Mukarram Jah, the titular eighth Nizam of Hyderabad, and his younger brother Muffakham Jah.

Reportedly, the country has been ordered to pay GBP 1,835,445.83 to Prince Muffakham Jah, GBP 2,802,192.22 to India, GBP 795,064.63 to HEH VIII Nizam as well as National Westminster Bank's costs of GBP 367,387.90.

"Today's hearing brings this litigation which started in 2013 -- but where the underlying dispute dates back to in 1948 -- to an end at long last," said Paul Hewitt who was representing the VIII Nizam

"We are pleased that Pakistan has decided not to contest Justice Smith's judgment. Our client His Exalted Highness the VIII Nizam will now have access to the funds which his grandfather, HEH the VII Nizam, intended him to have," he added.

Back in October, the court had ruled that GBP 35 million which were held in a Natwest account, must go to the descendants of Indian royal Nizam of Hyderabad.

The fund had been held in the account of the High Commissioner of Pakistan to the UK Rahimtoola since September 1948. It had been the subject of earlier proceedings in the 1950s in which the UK House of Lords set aside proceedings brought by the 7th Nizam claiming the fund as Pakistan invoked state immunity.