Delhi High Court Grants Trademark Rights To Lucknow’s Iconic Tunday Kababi!!

• 9 Jan 2018

Since last four years, The Delhi High Court was hearing a case between the original Tunday Kababi and a competing food chain set up by a Delhi man under the name ‘ Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi’.

Finally, the Delhi High Court has made the call as to who shall call their outlet ‘Tunday Kababi’! Over the years many outlets have come up all over the city using the name.

The original Tunday Kababi in Lucknow was started way back 1905 by Haji Murad Ali on the crossroads of the Chowk area. Since then, the place is famous for the softest Galauti Kebabs that one could have ever tasted!

The popularity of the dish caused a lot of copycat eateries to grow in Lucknow as well as Delhi. A case was filed in 2014 after a Delhi man obtained franchise rights to open a restaurant under the name ‘Lucknow Wale Tunday Kebabi’.

But after four years of hearing, the Delhi High Court has ruled that the ‘Tunday Kababi’ name belongs exclusively to Muhammad Usman, the grandson of Haji Murad Ali ‘Tunday’ in Lucknow.

Mohammad Usman had filed the case in 2014 after coming to know of the franchise rights that was given to a man in Delhi to open a similar establishment under the name of Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi. The latter is owned by Mohammad Muslim, who claims to be the maternal grandson of Haji Murad Ali.

In the year 1905, Haji Murad Ali started his kebab-paratha shop on Gol Darwaza Street in Chowk area which is the busiest marketplace in Lucknow. He was referred to as ‘Tunday’  which translates to “having only one arm” in Urdu. He lost the other in a kite-flying match. He was offered the royal patronage of the Nawab of Lucknow after he won a contest for making the most delicious kebabs. His eatery came to be known as Tunday Kababi and his signature dish’s recipe is still a well-guarded secret.