Bachchan's land deal to come up before court Monday

An Uttar Pradesh court is scheduled to hear Monday a case related to alleged irregularities in allotting a plot of government land to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

The actor has sought from the court of Faizabad divisional commissioner review of an order of the Barabanki district magistrate quashing the allotment citing violation of rules.

The state government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, who lost the state assembly elections this month, had allotted 3 bighas (about 70,000 sq ft) of prime land in Barabanki district, barely 35 Km from this state capital.

Bachchan is close to Yadav's confidante and Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh.

The Bollywood icon faces the allegation that he misrepresented facts to receive the benefit.

He also reportedly used the allotment as a testimonial to establish his credentials as a farmer to buy agricultural land in Maharashtra, as the state's rules do not permit anyone other than a farmer to purchase such land.

It was a query by the Pune collector in March 2006 to the Barabanki district magistrate for authentication of the Uttar Pradesh testimonial that opened the can of worms for Bachchan.

Then Barabanki district magistrate Ashish Goel cancelled the allotment on the ground that the land revenue records had been fudged.

The official was replaced within a few days and his successor Ram Shankar Sahu stayed the cancellation "till further orders".

Bachchan then approached the divisional commissioner to get the land restored in his name.