LUCKNOW, Sept. 29 -- A nearly 30-year-old legal dispute over five-acre Nazul land in the Devipatan division (Gonda) reached the stage of closure when the petitioner relinquished his claim, informing a court he wanted to withdraw the case. He also vacated the property. "It is a moral victory as the five-acre government land is free and can be utilised for some public welfare project such as a hospital, school in the near future," Devipatan divisional commissioner Durga Shakti Nagpal said on Monday. Dayanand Mishra, the petitioner, said, "I submitted the affidavit to the court." The affidavit stated that he will not pursue the matter further and requested that the proceedings be closed. "The petitioner is 65-year-old and unable to pursue the case due to health reasons and wants to take back the case," said the affidavit submitted before a fast track court in Gonda. The land is situated in the heart of the city near the commissioner's office and its market price is estimated to be around Rs 12 crore. "The case concerns Nazul Plot Nos. 514, 515, 524 and 525 in Gonda, reserved for the commissioner's office and building. The matter had been pending in court since 1997. Even after a stay order was passed in 2008, legal proceedings over the government land continued. The long-pending case came to the administration's attention during the drive to free government land from encroachment," said a statement from the commissioner's office. "The most significant aspect of the case is that the party has not only stepped back from the legal battle in court but has also removed his occupation from the site," the statement added. The land was initially marked for construction of the divisional commissioner's office when the Devipatan division was created in 1997-98. Owing to the petition in court, the office was built on another land nearby. The development comes weeks after a controversy over allegations that the commissioner made a phone call to a judge in the case. In an order dated August 21, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court had taken a serious view of the issue and said the matter warranted consideration under criminal contempt....