Judgement

MUKHERJEA, J.: This appeal, which has came before us on a certificate granted by the High Court of Hyderabad under Art. 132(1) of the Constitution is directed against a judgment of a Full Bench of that Court dated 7-11-1950 passed on a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution. By this judgment the learned Judges of the High Court declared an Act, known as Waliuddowla Succession Act of 1950, void under Art. 13(2) of the Constitution to the extent that it affected the rights of the present respondents 1 to 12 who were the petitioners in the Art. 226 proceeding. The object of the impugned Act, which received the assent of H. E. H. the Nizam as Rajpramukh of Hyderabad on April 24, 1950, was to put an end to the disputes that existed at the time regarding succession to the Matrooka or personal estate of Nawab Waliuddowla, a wealthy noble man and a high dignitary of Hyderabad, and what, in substance, the Act provided was to dismiss the claims of succession to the said properties put forward by two of the alleged wives of the late Nawab named Mahboob Begum and Kadiran Begum and their children. These two ladies as well as their children filed a petition before the Hyderabad H