Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 1: The state government has issued show cause notices to 25 private engineering and management colleges for encroaching upon government land in violation of revenue laws, a senior official of Employment and Technical Education and Training (ETE&T) said Sunday.
The ETET has directed the institutions to reply within 15 days of the submission of the notice, which was issued Thursday, a senior ETET official told Orissa Post.
“The revenue and disaster management department has reported that you have not converted the agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose in violation to the Orissqa Land Reforms Act and have encroached the government land,” said the notice.
Some institutions, according to sources, have encroached upon government land and some have not converted farmland though they have been using them for non-agricultural purposes and others like the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) have violated both the norms, the official said.
Suggesting that these institutes have misrepresented facts through affidavits, the notice said, “By encroaching upon the government land, you have not only violated the revenue laws of the state but also obtained approval of AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) by misrepresenting facts and submitting false affidavits before the council as regards status of land of your institutions.”
“The revenue and disaster management department has reported that you have not converted the agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose in violation to the Orissa Land Reforms Act and have encroached the government land,” mentioned in the notice.
While KIIT has encroached 18.10 acre of government land, Mahaveer Institute of Engineering and Technology grabbed 26.455 acre of government land, the notice indicated.
Among institutions which encroached government land in Khurda district include Asian School of Business Management (3.205 acre), Centurion University (14.815 acre), Bhubaneswar Engineering College (3,855 acre), Ganesh Institute of Engineering & Technology (0.850 acre), Synergy Institute of Technology (0.120 acre), Utkal Institute of Engineering & Technology (2.575 acre) and Vivekananda Institute of Technology (8.540 acre).
ET & T minister Sanjay Dasburma said after receiving the compliance report from these colleges, the government will submit its reply to the revenue and disaster management department. “After examining the compliances, whoever found guilty will be taken to task,” he said.
