Shanmuga Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy (SASTRA), a deemed university, from Thanjavur has moved Madras High Court challenging a Government Order issued on February 23 refusing to assign 31.37 acres of government land under the occupation of the university for long.
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Third Division Bench of Justices T. Raja and Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup on Thursday began hearing arguments advanced by senior counsel G. Rajagopalan, P.H. Arvindh Pandian and Sanjay Hegde representing the university and Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran for the State.
Since the arguments could not be concluded, the judges adjourned the case to Tuesday. Pursuant to the February 23 GO, the Thanjavur Tahsildar had issued an eviction notice on February 25 granting four weeks time to the university to vacate the encroached lands.
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Therefore, assailing the GO, Mr. Rajagopalan said, the university owns 32 acres opposite to its Thirumalaisamudram campus with direct access to the national highway. It owns another 36.16 acres adjoining its campus and contiguous to the government land and this property too had direct access from the national highway.
The university also owned 86.80 acres of agricultural land at the neighbouring Thatchankurichi village with all amenities such as power and borewell. The institution had offered any of these three properties in exchange for assignment of the 31.37 acres of government land and also agreed to pay the difference in value.
However, the government had not taken the offer into consideration and explained why it could not accept 36.16 acres just adjacent to the government land. Therefore, he urged the court to quash the GO and direct the government to reconsider the entire issue in the light of a 2018 Supreme Court order.
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It was also brought to the notice of the court that over 14,000 students were studying in the university and 1,500 staff were working. Further, nearly 3,000 women were staying in a women’s hostel constructed on the government land which also housed several other superstructures, the court was told.
In August 2017, a Division Bench of Justices Nooty Ramamohana Rao (since retired) and S.M. Subramaniam had delivered a split verdict on assigning the government lands to SASTRA. While the former directed the government to consider the request on payment of Rs. 10 crore, the latter directed the university to vacate.
On reference, the third judge, Justice C.V. Karthikeyan, in August 2018, concurred with Justice Subramaniam. Subsequently, the Supreme Court too dismissed an appeal that year but observed that the dismissal would not be an impediment for the institution to seek appropriate remedy, if any available under law, before the forum concerned.
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On the strength of such observation, the university on September 20, 2018 wrote to the then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami praying for assignment of the government lands. On February 5, 2020, the government constituted a committee headed by IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi to study the issue and submit its recommendations.
In October 2021, Mr. Bedi got relieved from the committee, after his appointment as Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner, and was succeeded by S. Jayanthi. She submitted her recommendations and thereafter, the government decided not to part with its lands originally earmarked for establishing an open air prison for adolescent offenders.
Defending the government’s decision, the AAG said, the deemed university was run for commercial purposes and not charity. Therefore, it had no legal right to demand that the government lands should be assigned to it, he argued and said that the institution had begun a second round of litigation after losing the first round till the Supreme Court.
He also claimed that the university had originally encroached around 20 acres of government land but it continued to encroach more and also built superstructures on those properties even when eviction proceedings by the revenue authorities and the litigations were pending.