Nizam’s jewels: Family seeks settlement of unresolved tax issue

Hyderabad, Jan 12 : Family members of VIIth Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan have urged the government of India to resolve the Nizam Jewellery Trust income and wealth tax issue pending for last 26 years.
Nizam’s grandson Najaf Ali Khan told IANS on Tuesday that he has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to resolve the issue as most of the beneficiaries of the trust are senior citizens facing health and financial problems. Many of the beneficiaries have expired, he said.
Khan, who is the president of Nizam Family Welfare Association, said despite their cooperation with the income tax department by submitting requisite information sought from time to time, the issue remained unrseolved.
He urged the minister to direct the officers concerned to look for one-time settlement of the issue.
He recalled that in 1950s Mir Osman Ali Khan created various trusts for the benefit of his family members. One such trust was the Nizam Jewellery Trust which was being administered by its trustees who were empowered to sell the jewellery. Trustees included Prince Muffakham Jah and a government-nominated trustee from the finance ministry at the level of joint secretary.
After a prolonged litigation with the intervention of the Supreme Court, the central government agreed to purchase Nizam’s jewellery for Rs 206 crore in January 1995. The corpus was distributed among about 114 Nizam family beneficiaries. Of them 39 beneficiaries have expired so far and most of the remaining are senior citizens facing serious health and financial issues.