Land dispute case: Relief for Amitabh

In a major reprieve to Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, the Lucknow bench of the Allabahad high court on Tuesday allowed the actor to withdraw his petition challenging a previous order in the Barabanki land dispute case and directed that no proceedings be intitiated against him in the matter.

A single bench of Justice A N Verma, while disposing off Bachchan's petition as withdrawn, also directed that the order of additional commissioner of Faizabad on the land in question would remain enforced.

The court said since Bachchan had abandoned his claim over the plot in Daulatpur village of Barabanki district and the village council assured it will not initiate any criminal proceeding, civil, criminal or revenue, against the actor if he forgoes his claim over the land, the petition can be withdrawn.

The bench said Bachchan would not lay any claim over the land in any way. It also observed that there were no findings that the actor had forged entries in the revenue records and directed that no criminal, civil or revenue proceedings be initiated against him.

Government counsel D K Upadhyay said he would decide the next course of action after studying the judgement.

The court had on December 6 reserved its judgement on Bachchan's petition challenging the additional commissioner's order quashing allotment of the farmland during the previous Samajwadi Party regime.

In an apparent attempt to wriggle out of the controversy, Bachchan had offered to abandon his claim over the land. "I am giving up my claim on the land in question and also on the adjoining land for the welfare of the villagers," Bachchan's counsel Mukul Rohtagi had submitted before the court.

Upadhyay had termed Bachchan's claim over the land district as a 'case of forgery in the revenue records'.

Bachchan, who had bought a piece of land in Maharashtra, required a certificate declaring him to be a farmer which was sought by the Maharashtra government. Later, the district magistrate and the additional commissioner had quashed the allotment of the land.

Bachchan later bought another piece of land adjoining the plot in dispute and offered to donate it to the village council for building a school for girls.