The matter was raised in 2024 by VMC councillors, two days after his election as a Member of Parliament from the Baharampur constituency in West Bengal on a Trinamool Congress ticket.
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Monday came down heavily on former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan in an alleged land encroachment case.
The court while adjourning the hearing for next week orally told Pathan’s lawyer to be “ready for damages (rent)” for encroaching upon the public land without any formal order of allotment.
The division bench of chief justice Sunita Agarwal and justice D N Ray was hearing Pathan’s petition challenging a single judge’s order passed last year which had held him as an “encroacher” of a residential plot in Vadodara and directed the civic authorities for the removal.
“How could you occupy this plot? There is no allotment in your favour. You have not paid a single penny of allotment. This was only a proposal for allotment which was sent to the state govt for approval which was rejected. How can you enter into it? This is sufficient to reject…” the bench orally stated.
The land in question is an open residential plot located next to Pathan’s bungalow in the Tandalja area. In 2012, he approached the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) to allot the plot to him at market price citing family security.
The civic body carried out a valuation and forwarded a proposal to the VMC commissioner to allot the plot to Pathan. The commissioner then referred it to the state government. In 2014, the government rejected the proposal.
However, Pathan continued to retain possession of the plot. Pathan claims that he was not communicated in any manner about the rejection until 2024.
The matter was raised in 2024 by VMC councillors, two days after his election as a Member of Parliament from the Baharampur constituency in West Bengal on a Trinamool Congress ticket.
