Gujarat: Vadodara civic body clears land allotment for Yusuf Pathan

Vadodara, Oct 23 (IANS) The Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s (VMC) Standing Committee on Friday unanimously approved the allotment of a 978-square-metre municipal plot to former India cricketer and MP Yusuf Pathan, despite the Gujarat government having rejected his original request in 2014 and the civic body subsequently issuing him a notice over alleged encroachment.

The decision was taken without any questions being raised during the meeting, according to sources. All 12 members of the Standing Committee belong to the BJP, which controls the civic body.

The Congress, with six corporators in the 69-member VMC, has no representation on the committee.

Congress leaders and corporators staged a protest outside the committee hall before the meeting, opposing the proposed transfer and holding placards criticising the BJP and the decision.

The plot, identified as Final Plot No. 90 under Town Planning Scheme 22 in Tandalja, is adjacent to Pathan’s bungalow.

Under the approved proposal, 500 square metres will be transferred to him as a "gift", while the remaining 478 square metres will be allotted at 55 per cent of the valuation determined by the Vadodara Urban Development Authority’s Valuation Committee.

The land was valued at Rs 2.10 lakh per square metre when the civic body considered putting it up for public auction earlier this year, taking the estimated value of the entire plot to around Rs 20.5 crore.

At that valuation, the proposed arrangement would give Pathan the 500-square-metre portion without payment and allow him to acquire the remainder at a concessional rate.

Standing Committee chairperson Varsha Vyas said the panel had accepted the proposal on the basis of the state government’s resolution and the recommendation submitted by the municipal commissioner.

She said, "The allotment is being considered under the Urban/Area Development Authorities (Disposal of Land and Other Properties) Regulations, 2002, which provide for the disposal of land through sale or the grant of development rights."

Vyas added that the government had decided to allot the land in recognition of Pathan’s contribution to Indian sport and that the committee had acted on the approval conveyed by the state.

The dispute dates back to March 3, 2012, when Pathan applied to the VMC for a 99-year lease of the plot without a public auction. The civic body had approved the proposal at the time, but the state government rejected it in June 2014.

The VMC subsequently alleged that Pathan had fenced off and occupied the land despite the rejection. In June 2024, days after Pathan won the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal on a Trinamool Congress (TMC) ticket, the VMC served him a notice asking him to remove the alleged encroachment.

Pathan challenged the rejection of his allotment request in the Gujarat High Court, but a single judge dismissed his plea in August 2025.

He later appealed against the order. The civic body began preparations for a public auction of the plot in July this year.

However, the proposal was withdrawn after the VMC’s General Board raised questions about the alleged encroachment and said the land should not be disposed of until the dispute was resolved.

Pathan withdrew his appeal before the Gujarat High Court on August 31, two days after the VMC received the state government’s communication approving the proposed transfer.

The allotment proposal was cleared after Pathan and 19 other MPs broke away from the TMC on June 14 and joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), seeking separate seating in the Lok Sabha.

The Gujarat government’s approval for the land transfer was issued in August, roughly two months after the political split.

--IANS

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