The Sampadak Express News Desk
The Gujarat government has moved to transfer part of a long-disputed Vadodara municipal plot to Lok Sabha MP and former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, with 500 square metres to be “gifted” and the remaining 478 square metres offered at a concessional rate. The proposal, submitted by the Vadodara municipal commissioner, is listed for final approval before the BJP-ruled civic body’s standing committee on October 23, according to The Hindu, which cited the agenda circulated on Monday (October 19, 2026).
Under the plan, 500 square metres of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC)-owned land would be allotted to Mr. Pathan as a gift, while the balance 478 square metres would be sold at a 45% concession — priced at 55% of the rate fixed by the Vadodara Urban Development Authority Valuation Committee. The proposal specifies that the allotment would be made “subject to specific terms and conditions” in line with a 2024 resolution issued by the State’s Urban Development and Urban Housing Department.
The 978-square-metre residential plot, adjacent to Mr. Pathan’s family home in Tandalja, has been at the heart of a decade-long dispute. Mr. Pathan first sought to purchase the land in 2012. While the civic body initially agreed, the Gujarat government rejected the sale in 2014.
After Mr. Pathan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Baharampur, West Bengal, on a Trinamool Congress (TMC) ticket in 2024, the VMC served him a notice alleging encroachment on corporation land and directed him to vacate it. He challenged the notice in the Gujarat High Court, arguing that the matter dated back more than a decade and that the civic body should have issued a show-cause notice before ordering removal of the alleged encroachment. He also contended that the land belonged to the municipal corporation rather than the State government.
The High Court upheld the State government’s decision to reject his request for allotment. Mr. Pathan then filed an appeal before a division bench, but in August 2026 the appeal was dismissed as withdrawn after his lawyer informed the court that he was pursuing his claim under the State’s policy framework.
The latest move follows political shifts in Parliament earlier this year, when Mr. Pathan, who won Baharampur in 2024, joined a group of 20 TMC MPs who broke away from the party and merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) to align with the NDA in the Lok Sabha.
If the standing committee approves the municipal commissioner’s proposal on October 23, it would clear the way for the allotment of the Tandalja plot to Mr. Pathan on the outlined terms.
