Gujarat govt moves to allot disputed plot to ex-cricketer, MP Yusuf Pathan months after NDA switch
The BJP-led Gujarat government approved the allotment of a disputed 978-square-metre plot in Vadodara to Yusuf Pathan, former cricketer and Lok Sabha member, with final clearance from the city’s civic body still pending.
According to Telegraph India, the Vadodara Municipal Commissioner has submitted a proposal on Monday to the standing committee of the BJP-controlled Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), which is scheduled to consider it for final approval on October 23. The government has issued the necessary orders to the civic body regarding the allotment.
Pathan, who was elected from Baharampur in West Bengal in 2024, has sought the residential plot next to his family home in Vadodara’s Tandalja locality since 2012. The proposal comes months after he reportedly joined a group of 20 Trinamool Congress MPs who broke away from the party led by Mamata Banerjee and merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Parliament.
Under the latest proposal, 500 square metres of land owned by the VMC would be gifted to Pathan, while the remaining 478 square metres would be offered at a 45% discount, meaning he would pay 55% of the rate fixed by the Vadodara Urban Development Authority’s Valuation Committee.
The allotment would be subject to specific terms and conditions under a 2024 resolution issued by the state’s Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, according to the proposal.
The dispute dates back to 2012, when Pathan, then an international cricketer, approached the VMC seeking a 99-year lease of the plot without a public auction. He cited security concerns arising from his status as an international cricketer and sought the land adjoining his family home.
Although the VMC initially agreed to the request, the Gujarat government rejected the proposed sale in 2014.
The issue resurfaced in June 2024, two months after Pathan entered politics through the Trinamool Congress. The VMC issued him a notice asking him to remove what it described as an encroachment on the land.
Pathan challenged the notice in the Gujarat High Court, arguing that the plot belonged to the municipal corporation rather than the state government.
In June 2026, the High Court questioned how the land could have been occupied and fenced without formal allotment or payment. The court had earlier upheld the state government’s decision to reject Pathan’s request for the plot.
Pathan subsequently challenged the ruling before a division bench. In August, however, the appeal was dismissed as withdrawn after his lawyer informed the court that he was pursuing the claim under the state government’s policy.
If approved by the VMC standing committee, the latest proposal would pave the way for the allotment of the disputed plot to Pathan under the terms set out by the municipal commissioner.