Uncertainty over school's premises in Kotla block of Kangra as education department fails to record mutation of donated land

Uncertainty prevails over the future of the premises of Government Primary School (GPS), Soldha, under elementary education block, Kotla, in Jawali subdivision. Its land, donated by one RD Sharma of Kotla a few decades ago, has never been put up on the records of the Revenue Department due to the alleged negligence of the Education Department. The department has raised boundary walls and also constructed school classrooms on the donated land but never undertook its mutation for getting recorded its ownership in the revenue records.

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The ownership of around two kanals of the donated land is still running in the names of tenants of the land whereas the land’s original owner had donated the land to the school with an exchange of land with the tenants, but that, too, was not recorded in their names in the revenue department records. In the Revenue Department records, the possession of the school has been entered but ownership is still in the names of the land tenants.

Intriguingly, no written agreement between the land donor and Education Department was prepared even to establish ownership rights of the department.

As per information, this land had been gifted to the school in 1996 and no mutation was recorded in favour of the Education Department whereas the ownership of this land has been in the names of land tenants who had become owners through the Land Tenancy Act. They have challenged the possession of the land gifted to the primary school in the judicial court. The parents and residents of the Soldha gram panchayat are worried over the future of the school premises where local tiny tots have been studying in primary school for a long time.

The school came into existence in 1955 but now after its gifted land was disputed in the judicial court, the future of the school seems to be under cloud. The verbal gifted land has virtually become a thorn in the throat of the state education department. The owners of the disputed land recently demarcated the land through field revenue department staff and raised land boundary poles on the school entrance gate which further made the residents apprehensive suspecting forcible possession of the land gifted land anytime in the future.

Soldha gram panchayat pradhan Rabjesh Kumari and ward member Dinesh Jaswal have appealed to the chief minister to intervene and address this issue to save the existence of the 70 years old government primary school. They underlined the need to settle this contentious issue amicably so that education of the children would not be impeded. Indira Kumari, Block

Elementary Education officer (BEEO), Kotla alleged that claimants of donated land had also axed all 22 eucalyptus trees in the school premises after procuring official permission felling only some trees which had been posing threat to public safety. “I have submitted a detailed report on the installation of poles on the school entrance and axing of all trees on the premises to the higher department authorities,” she said.