Several acres of land on Bangalore University’s (BU) Jnanabharathi campus — spread over 1,000 acres — have either been encroached upon or leased out to other government agencies or institutions. The university has decided that henceforth, land will be leased out to agencies only if they agree to specific terms and conditions that will benefit BU.
After the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) sought additional five acres adjacent to their existing premises, BU put forth two conditions. The first to provide financial assistance to BU to develop their infrastructure and laboratory facilities, and the second stipulated that the auditorium, guesthouse, and information and communications technology centres built by NAAC be jointly used by both BU and the council. While NAAC refused to the first condition, they have agreed to the second one, and the university has decided to allot them land.
Of the 1,319 acres of land belonging to the university, 227.45 acres have been encroached upon, while nearly around 212 acres have been leased out to agencies such as the Sports Authority of India, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Indira Gandhi Art Foundation, Kalaagrama, and Regional English Training Centre, among others. The value of each acre in this area is anywhere between ₹5 crore to ₹10 crore.
BU is not averse to leasing out land to prestigious and reputed organisations. It had recommended leasing two acres for 30 years to the Council of Architecture, which comes under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), and 25 acres to the Central University of Karnataka, Kalaburagi, to set up a research centre. However, in May this year, the State government rejected the university’s proposal to lease out land to the two institutions.
K.R. Venugopal, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said that the proposals will be forwarded once again to the State government. “Having these Union government institutions and agencies on the campus should be a matter of pride. If the State government gives permission, we will use the resources jointly with these institutions and it will also help our students immensely,” he said.
Not everyone is happy with this decision. A senior official of BU stated that the university’s decision to lease out land was short-sighted. “Although large expanses of land are vacant, the university in future will need it to establish more buildings and research centres. They should reconsider the decision,” the official said.
