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GDA
cancels allotment of land to
IMT, Ghaziabad |
GHAZIABAD: On May 28 the Ghaziabad Development
Authority (GDA) cancelled the allotment of 11,503 square
yard land to Institute of Management Technology, here in
its Raj Nagar campus. The president of the governing
council of the institute is Bakul Nath, son of Madhya
Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, whose family owns the
society that runs the institute.
The orders were issued after a committee of GDA
officials conducted an inquiry over allegations made by
municipal councillor Rajendra Tyagi. Tyagi on March 11
had made public several RTI replies and documents
alleging that about 10,841 square yards of GDA land was
allegedly merged with the campus of IMT, Ghaziabad.
A close aide of the Madhya Pradesh chief minister had
last told news agency IANS that the charges levelled by
the BJP leader were baseless and the probe being
initiated by the Uttar Pradesh government, was to harass
Nath’s family.
During an enquiry, the GDA found that IMT was in
possession of 11503 square yards land which belonged to
the authority. The IMT campus is spread over an area of
about 66,000 square yards including the land in
question. Tyagi had produced documents which showed that
the society running the institute was given the land in
1968 on concessional rates by then Ghaziabad Improvement
Trust.
The GDA said they did not receive any payment for the
land and formed a committee to find out the status. The
officials said that they found that no payment was made
to the authority for over 30 years. “We have cancelled
the allotment of the land and a notice has also been
sent to IMT, Ghaziabad,” said Santosh Kumar Rai,
secretary of GDA.
About two weeks ago, the GDA and IMT officials also held
a meeting in which the institute officials were told to
pay the market value of the land or return it to the
authority. Even though no demand was raised by the
authority, a cancellation notice was sent on Tuesday.
“During inspection of records we found that the land was
once allotted to the institute but they did not pay for
it. The last demand notice for payment was sent to them
in 1994 but no payment was made,” said CP Tripathi,
additional secretary – GDA.
The officials of IMT, Ghaziabad said that they have also
come to know about the cancellation notice issued by GDA
but not yet received it.
“We are waiting for the notice and it will arrive in a
day or two. We could not produce the evidence during the
meeting with GDA that we paid for the land in question.
But they also did not take any action for about 30
years. We shall take legal recourse. It is an
educational institution and there is no unlawful
activity,” said Dr Asish K Bhattacharyya, director, IMT,
Ghaziabad.
IMT officials said the institute has about 1400 students
and a hostel facility on the campus has also come up on
the land in question.
“We are ready to pay if they raise a demand. We were
awaiting a demand from GDA after the meeting but we did
not receive it,” Bhattacharyya said.
Ghaziabad-based IMT is considered among the top private
business schools in the country. (Courtesy : The
Hindustan Times) |
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