LUCKNOW: The descendants of late Jat king Mahendra Pratap Singh, who had donated land to various educational institutes, including Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), have demanded the land back from the university, claiming it was given to it on a 90-year lease which expired last year.
They have also demanded the AMU administration rename its city school after the late king. The AMU executive council has formed a panel and submit its report to the varsity administration. Mahendra Pratap Singh (1886-1979) had participated in the country’s freedom struggle and was a renowned social reformer. He had given 3.04-acre land to the university on lease for constructing a school in 1929. The king himself was an alumnus of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later became the AMU.
Sources close to late king’s great grandson Charat Pratap Singh, said the family had served a legal notice on AMU in 2018 about the expiry of lease. Sources said two pieces of land were given to AMU for promoting education. The relatives of the king are ready to donate the bigger chunk of land on which AMU’s city school is constructed with the condition that AMU authorities rename it after the king.
For the other piece of land measuring 1.2 hectare, the family has given two options — either it should be returned to the family or the family should be monetarily compensated at the current market rate of the land. Last year, the UP Cabinet had cleared a proposal to set up a new university in Aligarh, named after the Jat freedom fighter. The main refrain of the state government was that the Jat king had given land for establishing the university but his name was not mentioned on any plaque.