Private school on government land told to stop admissions

Illegal transactions of government land in Anekal had seen a private school come up on it and begin admissions earlier this year.

However, on May 15, the Block Education Officer (BEO), Anekal, who investigated the matter, served a notice on SJR Education Institute. Following this, the school was not only forced to stop admissions, but was also advised to help students it had enrolled get admission in other schools.

The issue was brought to the notice of the authorities concerned by Madhava Prasad Reddy, a local RTI activist. Deccan Herald had first reported the issue in May this year.

Further, there were also other violations pertaining to the land. The district authorities have now, following a direction by the chief secretary asking them to look into the matter, found the violations to be true.

The ‘Inam’ land was allegedly allotted to a temple and transferred illegally to others.
Investigations have revealed that the land indeed belongs to the government and that it was transferred to private persons by creating fake documents.

According to the complaint to the chief secretary, the said land belongs to Basaveshwara temple in Thindlu, Anekal taluk. Documents submitted along with the complaint show that the owner as per land records from 1924, is the temple.

The temple’s land was being used by a contractor (Cha Muniswamappa) from 1969 to 1984, when he died. Following his death, documents reveal that the contract to use the land was in the name of Gubba Shetty. “In 1997, Shetty dies and his son, about 13 years later in 2010, files an application in the name of his father to transfer the land to the said educational institution. He claims that the people in the management are his relatives and that he wants to transfer the land,” Reddy said.

The contractors have no rights over the land and thereby cannot transfer it to anybody, he added. The claims have been upheld by the authorities and further action by the Revenue Department is awaited.