- Mahmudabad was one of the largest feudal estates in the erstwhile kingdom of Awadh
- Its raja, during the freedom struggle, had been an important member of the Muslim League and a close friend of Jinnah. In 1962, he migrated to Pakistan, leaving his young son and heir behind in Lucknow
- The vast Mahmudabad properties in UP were then seized as "enemy property" under defence rules
- When the old raja died in London in 1974, his son Raja Mohammad Amir Khan began a long legal battle to get back his inheritance
- In a landmark judgement in Sep 2005, the Supreme Court directed the government to release the Mahmudabad properties and restore them to the present raja
- The properties include Butler Palace and large chunks of Hazratganj in Lucknow, the Metropole Hotel in Nainital and much of Sitapur town