Gujarat govt ‘gifts’ disputed plot to Yusuf Pathan after TMC exit

The plot has an estimated market value of around Rs 20.50 crore.

Vadodara: Former cricketer and Lok Sabha MP Yusuf Pathan can finally have a breather after the Gujarat government approved a long-disputed 978-square-metre plot in Vadodara under its policy for international sportspersons.

This comes months after Pathan jumped ship from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to the Gujarat government, 500 square metres will be allotted for free, while the remaining will be given at 55 per cent of its assessed market value.

The plot has an estimated market value of around Rs 20.50 crore.

However, it is yet to be finalised. The proposal will be placed before the Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s (VMC) standing committee and general board for approval, Hindustan Times reported.

Yusuf Pathan has been trying since 2012

Yusuf Pathan has been trying to get the land since 2012. It is adjacent to his house in Tandalja in Vadodara. He had applied for a 99-year lease of the land in the same year, citing security concerns.

Two years later, the Gujarat government rejected his appeal, stating the land was not offered through a public auction.

Pathan started building a boudary wall around the land. Almost 12 years later, in 2024, the VMC called it encroachment and ordered its removal. He moved the Gujarat High Court.

This was also the time when he joined the Trinamool Congress.

In his plea, Pathan said since the matter is over a decade old and the plot in question is also in his possession, the VMC should have given him a chance by issuing a show-cause notice instead of a notice that asked him to “clear the encroachment” and free the plot.

He also argued that the Gujarat government, which rejected the VMC’s proposal to sell the land to Pathan in 2014, cannot deny the sale of land because it belonged to the civic body and not the state government.

The following year, the High Court dismissed Pathan’s appeal against the VMC’s order, stating he had no legal rights on the disputed land as neither a final allotment order was issued nor any payment made.

In June 2026, soon after the BJP defeated the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, a division bench gave him four weeks to pursue his claim under the state government’s policy for allotment of land to international sportspersons.

On August 13, the Gujarat government directed the Revenue Department to allot the disputed land of equivalent value to compensate for the transfer. It also states that the decision should not be treated as a precedent for similar cases.

Pathan, who had changed his allegiance to the NCPI, withdrew his appeal from the High Court on August 31.