Shops functioning from the pavilion of the Maharaja’s College stadium here owe rent arrears to the tune of ₹1.3 crore to the college, according to details revealed in reply to an application under the Right to Information Act.
The default in payment of rent has caused a dent on the revenue coffers of the only government autonomous college in the State. The rent collected is used for development work and to pay the salary of staff appointed on contract basis, according to the reply filed by the Public Information Officer of the college. Thirteen of the 14 shops in the stadium facility are given on rent.
The revised rent as per an order by the Kerala High Court in 2018 is ₹32.20 per sq.ft. The college authorities said they had requested the District Collector to initiate measures to evict defaulters. Notices have been served on shop owners, who had approached the Rent Control Court against the fixing of ₹32.20 per sq.ft as rent.
The college has asked the Government Pleader to inform the court to reject the request made by the defaulters, as they had gone in appeal against the decision taken by the Kerala High Court.
T. Jayachandran, representative of Old Students Association of Maharaja’s College, pointed out that there were defaulters who had incurred arrears of over ₹41 lakh. “Would this have happened, if the property belonged to a private person or institution?” he asked.
Mr. Jayachandran said the students of the college were forced to seek external help for participating in youth and sports fests for the paucity of funds. “The government has to intervene immediately and recover arrears or take stringent legal measures against defaulters,” he said.
