Yusuf Pathan "gifted" part of Rs 200 million property after joining NDA

Dubai: Former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan could receive a portion of a disputed property in Vadodara after the Gujarat government proposed gifting him 500 square metres of municipal land and offering the remaining area at a discounted rate.

The proposal, submitted by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) commissioner, is scheduled to go before the standing committee of the BJP-ruled civic body for final approval on October 23 according to multiple Indian media outlets.

The former Indian cricketer has sought the residential plot in the Tandalja locality, next to his family home, since 2012. Under the latest proposal, 500 square metres would be allotted to him as a gift, while the remaining 478 square metres would be available at 55% of the rate fixed by the Vadodara Urban Development Authority’s valuation committee.

The 978-square-metre plot has been valued at around Rs 20 crore (Dh 7.7 million).

The proposal comes months after Pathan broke away from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and joined a group of 20 MPs who aligned with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), moving towards the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The property has been the subject of a prolonged dispute between Pathan and the civic authorities. Although the VMC initially agreed to sell him the land in 2012, the Gujarat government rejected the request in 2014.

In 2024, the civic body issued Pathan a notice seeking the removal of an alleged encroachment and asking him to vacate the municipal land.

Pathan challenged the notice in the Gujarat High Court, arguing that the dispute was more than a decade old and that the corporation should have issued a show-cause notice before demanding that the land be cleared.

The High Court upheld the state government’s decision to reject his original request. Pathan subsequently challenged the order but withdrew his appeal in August while pursuing the claim under the state’s policy.

The latest proposal remains subject to approval by the standing committee and the applicable conditions governing the allotment.