BHUBANESWAR: Land in possession of various government schools and colleges in the State will now be regularised in their favour. The State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday approved a new policy of the Revenue and Disaster Management department in this regard. As many as 51 government colleges and 644 aided colleges have land measuring 180 acres and 1,713 acres respectively under their occupation. Similarly, 1,274 high schools are located on government land.
Although the total value of the land in the occupation of educational institutions will be worth more than Rs 4,000 crore, the land is not recorded in their favour due to the inability of such institutions to pay the dues like premium, incidental charges, annual ground rent, cess and encroachment fees with a penalty.
As per the policy, land under occupation of standalone government degree colleges (including autonomous and non-autonomous) and standalone government higher secondary schools (erstwhile Plus II/junior colleges) will be recorded in the name of the Higher Education department and School and Mass Education (SME) department respectively with the care of the degree college/higher secondary school concerned.
In the case of aided degree colleges having autonomous status and non-autonomous aided degree colleges and aided higher secondary schools, the land will be recorded in the name of the Higher Education department and SME department respectively. Wherever a degree college co-exists with a higher secondary school, the land will be settled separately in the name of both the Higher Education and SME departments, respectively.
However, where such splitting of land is not possible due to practical problems and inconveniences, the entire land will be recorded in the name of the Higher Education department (care of the degree college). All land under occupation of high schools will be recorded in the name of the SME department with the care of the school concerned.