The Gujarat government has proposed allotting Vadodara's disputed municipal plot to MP Yusuf Pathan. The plan would gift 500 square metres and discount the balance by 45 per cent.
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Vadodara,Oct 20, 2026 12:56 IST
The Gujarat government has proposed handing over a long-disputed municipal plot in Vadodara to former cricketer and MP Yusuf Pathan, months after he broke away from the Trinamool Congress, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
Under the proposal, Pathan would receive 500 square metres of the land as a gift, while the remaining 478 square metres would be offered at a concessional rate. The proposal will be placed before the BJP-ruled Vadodara Municipal Corporation's standing committee for final approval on October 23.
The proposal was submitted by the municipal commissioner, according to the agenda shared on Monday. The 978-square-metre residential plot is next to Pathan's family home in Vadodara's Tandalja locality.
Pathan had sought the plot since 2012 but faced legal hurdles and notices from the civic body over alleged encroachment. Under the latest proposal, the remaining 478 square metres will be valued at 55 per cent of the rate fixed by the Vadodara Urban Development Authority Valuation Committee, amounting to a 45 per cent concession, PTI reported.
The allotment will be made "subject to specific terms and conditions" under a 2024 resolution issued by the Gujarat Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, the proposal said.
The move comes nearly four months after Pathan joined a group of 20 TMC MPs who broke away from the Mamata Banerjee-led party and merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India to join the NDA ranks in Parliament. Pathan was elected to the Lok Sabha from West Bengal's Baharampur constituency on a TMC ticket in 2024.
The plot has been at the centre of a dispute between Pathan and the civic body for more than a decade. In 2012, he requested permission to buy the land adjacent to his home. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation initially agreed, but the Gujarat government rejected the sale in 2014.
In 2024, after Pathan's election to the Lok Sabha, the civic body issued him a notice asking him to remove the alleged encroachment and vacate the municipal land. Pathan challenged the notice in the Gujarat High Court, arguing that the matter was more than a decade old and that the civic body should have issued him a notice seeking an explanation before directing him to clear the alleged encroachment.
He also argued that the land belonged to the municipal corporation and not the state government. The High Court later upheld the state government's decision to reject his request for the plot.
Pathan challenged the order before a two-judge bench. In August, the appeal was dismissed as withdrawn after his lawyer told the court that Pathan was pursuing his claim under the state government's policy, PTI reported.
If approved by the standing committee, the latest proposal will allow the disputed 978-square-metre plot to be allotted to Pathan, with 500 square metres gifted and the remainder offered at a 45 per cent concession under the conditions set by the municipal commissioner.
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