UP land case: Allahabad HC to hear Bachchans petition

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court will today hear a petition filed by actor Amitabh Bachchan challenging the Faizabad Additional Commissioners order quashing Bachchans ownership of a farmland in Uttar Pradeshs Barabanki District.

Allahabad, July 24 : The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court will today hear a petition filed by actor Amitabh Bachchan challenging the Faizabad Additional Commissioner's order quashing Bachchan's ownership of a farmland in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki District.

The hearing of the petition scheduled for Monday was posted for today by the court.

The High Court had on June 8 stayed the Faizabad Additional Commissioner's order quashing Bachchan's ownership of the land. However, the High Court had admitted his petition challenging the Faizabad court order that scrapped his ownership of a farmland.

In his petition Bachchan said that the Faizabad court's order exceeded its jurisdiction by not hearing his version and going into the merits of the case.

The court also gave four week's time to the opposite party to respond.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has already told the court that Bachchan allegedly committed another fraud by claiming that he was a resident of 17, Clive Road, Allahabad, in his application for farmland allotment in Barabanki District's Daulatpur village.

UP Government's lawyer D K Upadhya alleged that Bachchan's father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, lived at the said residence till 1958 after which the house was sold.

On June 1, a Faizabad court had rejected Bachchan's claim by scrapping his ownership of the farmland in Barabanki, declaring it illegal.

The court rejected Bachchan's petition against a Barabanki District Magistrate's order that cancelled the transfer of land in Daulatpur village to his name.

After hearing the arguments of Bachchan's counsel, Additional Commissioner (Administration) V S Prasad, upheld the March 24, 2006 order, which quashed the transfer of two bighas and five biswa' of land by the Barabanki consolidation officer.

The Barabanki District Magistrate had declared that the mode of transfer of land to Bachchan was illegal and directed that a case be lodged in the matter.

The former Mulayam Singh Yadav Government had allotted three bighas (about 70,000 sq ft) of prime land in Daulatpur Village of Barabanki District to Bachchan, a close confidante of Mulayam's Samajwadi Party.

ANI