Shimla, Sep 25 (PTI) In a setback to the state government, the Himachal Pradesh High Court restrained the concerned authorities from transferring 112 hectares of land of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Agriculture University, Palampur, to the tourism department for the tourism village project.
The interim order passed by the division bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma on Tuesday, directed the chief secretary, secretaries of tourism and agriculture departments, deputy commissioner, Kangra and the registrar of the University to file their replies by October 17.
The interim order was passed on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Himachal Pradesh Agriculture Teachers’ Association asserting that the transfer of land of the university for the Tourism Village project would have an adverse effect on agriculture education.
The petitioner said that locals had submitted representations to the Governor and chief minister in this regard on August 29. Seven former vice-chancellors of the university had also requested the state not to transfer the land.
The students, alumni, teachers, non-teachers, retirees and former vice chancellor and the University have appealed to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to reconsider the decision and restore the land to the University.
Sukhu had told the House on September 6 that the decision to transfer 112 hectares of land of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar (CSK) Agriculture University, Palampur to the Tourism Department for setting up a tourism village was final and the land would be transferred soon.
He had said that during the past 48 years, even 50 hectares of land was not developed by the University. If the need arises in the future, the university would be provided with private land.
The letter had said that the transfer of University land will adversely affect the interests of agricultural education and the farming community, especially at a time when the proposal of upgrading CSKHPKV Palampur to Central Agricultural University of North-Western Himalayan Region, aimed at serving the farming community of Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, is under active consideration of the Union Ministry of Agriculture. PTI BPL HIG HIG
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