Ahmedabad Newsline: Vadodara: Thursday, March 29, 2012.
Two days after revenue officials of Padra and M S University authorities declared that the land donated to the varsity was not encroached upon, the Vadodara district collector on Wednesday ordered an inquiry after fresh documentary evidence emerged that a residential colony had come up on the same plot.
The issue had come to light last Saturday when talati of Padra said in reply to a Right to Information Act (RTI) query that a residential society had come up on the land of survey no. 82. The land was donated by its owner Bipinchandra Patel to the MS University in 1987.
Following media reports, vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh and Padra taluka revenue officer (mamlatdar) Bharat Patel visited the site on Monday. After verification of documents, the officials concluded that 26,534 square metre land of survey no. 82 was intact and that the construction of Vrajdham Society had come up on land of survey no. 81.
However, Kamlesh Shah, the RTI applicant from Padra accessed documents of the society from Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA) on Tuesday. The VUDA documents show that Vrajdham Society stands on the land of survey no. 82.
Not only this, builder Shreenathji Developers had sought all the required permissions for developing the land of the same survey number. VUDA records have Bipinchandra as the man in possession of the land. But revenue records show the MS University to whom the possession was to be transferred.
The builder Mukesh Rana claimed that Bipinchandra had given power of attorney to his father Mangu Rana for development of the land. However, Bipinchandra refuted the claim and said he has donated the land to the university and has no claim over it whatsoever.
After these details emerged, M S University senate members Cassim Unia and Nilesh Shukla made a representation to collector Vinod Rao and demanded in inquiry.
“After their representation, I have ordered an inquiry by Sub-divisional magistrate, Vadodara rural, Vaghelaji and sought a report at the earliest,” collector Rao said.
Mamlatdar Patel said they has started matching documents with various offices. “Besides revenue records with us, city survey and VUDA also keep records of this land. We are matching the records to find out the truth,” the mamlatdar told The Indian Express.
However, entry no. 10,772 in the possession title of survey no. 82 in February 2003, deletes MS University from records. The same entry states that VUDA had allotted final plot no. 82 to survey no. 82 while survey no. 81 was allotted to plot no. 80.
Unia and Shukla alleged that the entry was suspicious and was evidence of tempering with the documents. They also questioned if the university after all knew that the land was donated to it 25 years ago.
“This is proof of how the university authorities are careless about donations and donors,” Shukla, who, along with Unia, is donors’ representative in senate said.
Meanwhile, the MS University on Wednesday applied for demarcation of its land in Padra. “We today applied and paid fee to City Survey for demarcation of our land in Padra. They will conduct a survey in two-three days and identify our land,” MSU engineer N K Ojha said. City Survey is the authority responsible for mapping and demarcating land and functions under district collector.
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