Nagpur University’s 70-acre land dispute

NAGPUR: In an interesting twist to Nagpur University’s 70-acre land dispute with the state government, the government has claimed that the varsity had paid for only 17.92

acres out of the total 70 acres and rest of the land was “allotted” to the university.

This revelation was made by additional government pleader Bharati Dangre before a division bench of justices Dilip Sinha and Ashok Bhangale on Monday.

Her reply came after the court asked the government as to why it was holding back 29 acres of land which belongs to the university and was neither encroached nor given to any department. Dangre told the court that the university had paid Rs 1.11,106.50 for the 17.92 acre belt at Khasra No 11
at Mouza Pandharabodi only and rest of the land was “allotted” by the government to the university.

The bench directed the university to place original records regarding the land deal between the government and university before April 3. Earlier, petitioner’s counsel Anil Kilor cited the possession letter and said that 70 acres of land was acquired by the government’s special land acquisition officer for the university on December 28, 1970. The university had paid a sum of Rs 1.11,106.50 to the government.

However, the government came up with a proposal to construct a sports complex for promoting sporting activities in the city saying that it will benefit both the parties. The University’s Management Council passed a resolution and handed over the said land to the district collector on May 24, 1992. Interestingly, the complex was later shifted to Mankapur and the plot was found partly encroached by slum dwellers. Meanwhile, the government allotted 10 acres of land each to the Tribal Welfare Department and RTO.

After the government’s failure to utilise the land, the university sought it for setting up of mega projects like bio-diversity, technology and discovery parks, which would benefit students. The court then ordered “status-quo” and prohibited any construction work on the disputed land.

University’s counsel Bhanudas Kulkarni told the court that out of the total 70.09 acres, 26 acres has been encroached by slum dwellers since the past many years. Of the remaining 44 acres, 5 acres was recently encroached by dhaba owners.