Barabanki admin razes illegal structures on SRMU campus
Confirming the action, Barabanki additional district magistrate Raj Kumar Sharma said university’s newly constructed animal house and a guard room were demolished
Five days after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leaders were lathicharged during a protest outside Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University (SRMU) on Lucknow-Deva Road, Barabanki on September 1, unauthorised structures within the university was razed on Saturday.
Confirming the action, Barabanki additional district magistrate (ADM) Raj Kumar Sharma said the university’s newly constructed animal house and a guard room near administrative block were demolished. He said the action followed a thorough probe by a team comprising officials from Nawabganj tehsil administration and the revenue department. The ADM said the university had been accused of encroaching on a pond and government land, with complaints reportedly filed by the ABVP.
A senior Barabanki official said that earlier in the day, a team comprising revenue and administrative officials along with police personnel visited the site which has been allegedly encroached by the university and measured the land on the directions of Barabanki DM Shashank Tripathi.
Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Barabanki, Anand Tripathi had earlier confirmed that a tehsildar court of Nawabganj tehsil issued notices to the SRMU on August 25 to vacate the government land occupied by the university and slapped a fine of ₹27,96000. He said the court order stated that SRMU chancellor and owner Pankaj Agarwal had encroached on land of Hadauri village of Dewa sub-division of Barabanki.
Tripathi said the court in its order stated that the university allegedly encroached on government land, including a drainage, a pathway, a pond and barren land. He said the university has been ordered to vacate the land within 30 days. “If the university fails to comply with the order, the tehsil administration may take bulldozer action to demolish the encroached structures,” he added. The SDM said the court has directed to pay the fine within 15 days.
Tehsildar, Nawabganj tehsil, Bhupendra Vikram Singh said the revenue department conducted an investigation and found that the university had encroached on approximately 2.5 bighas (kuccha) of government land. He said SRMU chancellor and owner Pankaj Agarwal raised a boundary wall on the government land and included it in the university premises around a year ago.
Agarwal, however, denied all allegations stating that they had already applied for substitution of the land in the same court as per the norms. He said the matter was still pending in the court concerned.
The Uttar Pradesh State Higher Education Council lodged an FIR against the SRMU late on Wednesday night for allegedly running an unrecognised law course. The FIR was lodged by council’s additional secretary Dinesh Kumar with Barabanki Kotwali police station under various charges, including dishonestly inducing a person, forgery of documents and fraudulently using a forged document.
