Former cricketer and Trinamool Congress MP Yusuf Pathan is set to receive a disputed plot in Vadodara after the Gujarat government approved its allotment under a policy for international sportspersons.

The decision comes amid a separate political controversy involving 20 TMC MPs, including Pathan, who approached the Lok Sabha Speaker in June claiming to have merged with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), in a move seen as a rebellion against party founder Mamata Banerjee.

The timing of the land approval and Pathan’s political realignment has drawn attention, although the available information does not establish a direct link between the two developments.

The Gujarat government has approved the allotment of 978 square metres of land in Vadodara, estimated to be worth around Rs 20.50 crore. Under the proposed arrangement, 500 square metres will be allotted to Pathan free of cost for residential use, while the remaining 478 square metres will be transferred at 55% of its assessed market value.

A senior Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) official said the civic body had received the state government’s approval. The proposal will now be placed before the standing committee and the general board for consideration, with the final details of the allotment yet to be settled.

The government resolution, dated August 13, reached the VMC on August 29. Two days later, Pathan withdrew his appeal against a Gujarat High Court order that had rejected his claim to the land, which is adjacent to his residence in Vadodara’s Tandalja area.

The allotment follows a dispute stretching back to 2012, when Pathan sought a 99-year lease of the plot, citing security concerns. The VMC had approved a proposal to allot the land at Rs 57,270 per square metre, but the state government rejected it in June 2014 because the plot had not been offered through a public auction.

Despite the rejection, Pathan continued to occupy the land and built a boundary wall. In June 2024, the VMC directed him to remove the encroachment, prompting him to challenge the order in court.

In August 2025, the Gujarat High Court dismissed his petition, observing that he had no legal right over the plot because no final allotment order had been issued and no payment had been made. Pathan appealed against the decision in 2026.

In June, a division bench gave him four weeks to pursue his claim under the state government’s policy for allotting land to international sportspersons.

The court also warned that the damages payable for his continued occupation of the plot could increase if the matter was delayed.

Pathan withdrew his appeal on August 31 after his lawyer told the court that the VMC had not responded to efforts to secure the land under the policy. The division bench subsequently dismissed the appeal as withdrawn.

Pathan entered the Lok Sabha in 2024 after winning the Berhampore constituency in West Bengal on a TMC ticket. His subsequent association with the group of MPs who claimed a merger with the NCPI has raised questions about his political position. However, no evidence in the available account establishes that this political development influenced the Gujarat government’s decision to approve the land allotment.

The government order directs the revenue department to provide the VMC with land of equivalent value to compensate for the transfer. It also states that the decision cannot be cited as a precedent for similar cases.

The proposed allotment must still pass through the VMC’s approval process, leaving the final transfer subject to further formalities.