Vadodara: Acting on a suo motu order by the district collector, officials on Tuesday took possession of around 3,800 sq m of prime land near Wadi Shastribaug in the city and restored ownership to Shri Ganpati Mandir Trust. The land, valued in crores, had been under dispute after seven members of a minority family allegedly got their names entered into city survey records by claiming ownership.

The land in question, bearing revenue survey numbers 1424/2 and 1424/1, originally belonged to Shri Ganpati Mandir Trust. Over time, seven heirs of Ayshabibi claimed that the land fell under Survey No. 68 and had their names entered in the city survey, subsequently taking possession.

When former BJP councillor Vijay Pawar learned that the land originally belonged to Shri Ganpati Mandir Trust, he gathered details and informed Balakrishna Shukla, the Whip of the Assembly and MLA from Raopura. Shukla, in turn, apprised the Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, of the actual situation.

Following this, the Home Minister directed the Vadodara district collector to investigate and take appropriate action. Upon verification, the collector found that the land did indeed belong to Shri Ganpati Mandir Trust and, acting suo motu, ordered removal of the names of Ayshabibi’s heirs and reinstatement of the Trust’s name in official records.

Acting on the order of Vadodara collector Dr. Anil Dhamelia, former Mamlatdar Alpesh Joshi, along with police security, took possession of the 3,800 sq m land on Tuesday and initiated further formalities.

Vijay Pawar, the former BJP councillor who had pursued the case to bring the land back under the temple trust, said that when it was discovered that the land had belonged to Ganpati Mandir Trust since 1970, he approached MLA Balakrishna Shukla. Shukla then raised the matter with the government and worked to have the Trust’s name officially re-entered for this land — an effort that has now succeeded. Acting suo motu, the government has restored the name of Shri Ganpati Mandir Trust in the records and taken possession of the land, while the names of the seven members of Ayshabibi’s family have now been removed. DeshGujarat