Bachchan’s petition rejected, Big B in trouble

June 01: Faizabad court today rejected a review writ filed by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan in the controversial farmers land allotment case. Amitabh Bachchan failed to prove himself as a farmer and make a claim on that land.

Additional Commissioner (Administration) V.S.Prasad, after hearing the arguments of Bachchan's counsel M.B.Singh, upheld the March 24, 2006 order quashing the allotment of a government farming land to him and cited the violation of rules.

Prasad deferred the case on May 29 for Friday.

Mulayam Singh Yadav government had allotted three bighas (about 70,000 sq ft) of prime land in Barabanki district (U.P) to Bachchan, who happens to be a close associate of the Samajwadi Party.

The land was in his possession but some villagers complained to the Barabanki district magistrate about the transfer stating that Bachchan was neither a farmer nor a resident of Barabanki.

The then Barabanki district magistrate Aashish Goyal lodged an FIR against the allotment citing that the Bollywood star had 'misrepresented facts' to receive the benefit. He declared the mode of transfer of land to Bachchan as illegal.

The land in question was entered in the name of Amitabh Bachchan following an order of consolidation officer, Barabanki on August 10, 1993.

As per the reports Bachchan has also used that allotment as a proof, which makes him eligible to buy agricultural land in Pune and Maharashtra.

"I am a law-abiding citizen and will obey whatever the law asks me to do. If proved wrong, we are ready to face penalty. If everything is found to be in order, I would say thank you," the film star said.

Bachchan refrained from saying anything against Mayawati government's decision about probing the legality of the land allotment in Barbanki district.

He said, “The property papers given to me by the government are in order.� He further added “Now, the government is saying that it should be probed...I am ready."

But all in all it was a clear cut defeat for the highest tax paying family in the country and it would be interesting to see how Amitabh & Co., deals with the investigations.