Abohar trust,school fight over possession of prime land

The trust plans to raise a market at this prime location,while the education department wants to build a hostel or a playground for the students of Government Senior Secondary School,Abohar,located two kilometres away.

According to the trust authorities,the land has nothing to do with the school. On the other hand,Gurmail Singh,principal of the school,claims that the land is part of the school and it was handed over to the school in December 1961 by the Abohar Municipal Council. He says staff quarters and the principal’s residence was already existing on the land then,but due to lack of repairs over the years,the building was declared unsafe by the public works department (PWD) in 1999,the same year the improvement trust started claiming ownership over the land.

The tussle has been on ever since and the matter is now in the High Court. On Thursday,Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav will call both the parties to present their views,based on which he will prepare a report,as told by the education department and the local bodies department. The report will be presented in the court.

The government school has been in existence since 1862 and according to the education department,the principal’s residence and staff quarters had been existing on the 940 square yards since then,but the land was actually handed over to the education department in 1961.

Parlad Khatwan,Chairman of Abohar Improvement Trust,however,has refuted the claims of the school authorities. He says: “While transferring the land to the school,the civic body had given it 10 years’ time — till 1971 — to build a hostel for the students,but they did not do anything. We have always seen fodder dumped in this building. The land is with the trust in papers and hence we want to take possession of it. Because it is in a prime location,we can get good revenue after selling it off.”

Abohar MLA Sunil Jakhar is,however,with the education department. He says the trust is flouting rules by forcibly claiming possession of the land. “The education department never got funds to get this building repaired and hence it was declared unsafe. Students come to this school from areas as far as more than 30 kilometres away. The land is meant for a hostel or a playground and for that the school principal has already written to the authorities concerned to allot funds.” Jakhar says he will not let a commercial venture come up on a land meant for schoolchildren.