Among the several claimants to Jinnah House, the sea-facing bungalow of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan and grandfather of industrialist Nusli Wadia is the ministry of external affairs (MEA). According to a report in The Times of India dated December 20, 2018, minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj wrote to Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha on December 5 that the MEA will "refurbish the bungalow” to develop it on the pattern of facilities available in Hyderabad House in Delhi. The Prime Minister’s Office has accorded the necessary approvals, stated Swaraj’s letter. Hyderabad House, the erstwhile Delhi residence built for the last Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan, is now used by the union government for banquets and meetings for visiting foreign dignitaries, according to Wikipedia.
Wadia was earlier permitted by the Bombay High Court (BHC) to step in as petitioner in place of his mother Dina who died in 2017 (see "In Dina’s stead,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, September 21, 2018). Dina had in 2010 challenged an earlier government notification that Jinnah House be declared as evacuee property. Wadia is bound to challenge the proposed transfer.
The BHC has also admitted a petition by a grandnephew of Jinnah, Mohammed Ebrahim and his son, claiming the property. The Pakistan government has asserted that the property belongs to them and that "any attempt by India to take the building under its control will not be accepted,” reported The Economic Times (ET) of December 20. "They (Indians) have accepted that it belongs to Pakistan,” a spokesperson of the Islamic nation’s foreign office was quoted in the ET report.