DPA/New Delhi
The Supreme Court has told British-Indian author Salman Rushdie to sell his ancestral bungalow in New Delhi after a protracted 35-year-long legal process, news reports said yesterday.
The court, in a recent judgment, ordered Rushdie to honour a 1970 agreement signed by his father to sell the family’s ancestral home. However, it also said the buyers should pay the market rate for the property, the Times of India newspaper reported.
The current market value for the bungalow in the Civil Lines area of the capital is estimated to be anywhere between Rs800mn and Rs1bn ($14-18mn).
Rushdie is a British citizen whose ancestors came from the region of Kashmir in undivided India. Born in Mumbai, Rushdie has lived in Britain since he was 14. His parents moved to Pakistan in 1963.
Rushdie’s father, Anis Ahmed Rushdie, signed an agreement in 1970 with Indian politician Bhiku Ram Jain for the sale of the bungalow for Rs375,000.
A part of the money was paid, but the agreement was not completed, leading to a protracted court battle beginning in 1977, which ended with the Supreme Court’s judgment, issued on December 3, but only reported yesterday.
Both Rushdie’s father and Bhiku Ram Jain died during the protracted court battle. Rushdie has reportedly been trying to sell the house for some time.
The author has been a regular visitor to India. His first book, Midnight’s Children, deals with India’s independence and partition.