Squatters annex Kerala University land

Thiruvananthapuram: The annual audit of Kerala University conducted by the Accountant General office has found that 8.20 acres of land belonging to the university has been encroached by private parties. The audit found six instances of clear encroachment. The audit also suspected the connivance of university officials in an encroachment made by the former security officer of the University on the Technopark side. The audit pointed out that the failure by university officials in protecting the property was a serious lapse for which responsibility had to be fixed.

The audit pointed out that according to the the record maintained by the estate officer of the university, it owned 482.956 acres of land in Karyavattom campus. Of which, 115.5 acres of land was given to various projects like LNCPE, Technopark, Government College and Telephone exchanges. As there was no survey map with contour levels, buildings and road available with the university department, the university engineer suggested a topographical survey of the campus. Based on his suggestion, vice-chancellor P.K. Radhakrishnan sanctioned the survey and preparation of a survey map with one metre contour levels in March 24, 2015.

Meridian survey and mappings conducted in the presence of the estate officer and assistant estate officer showing the actual area under possession as 359.25 acres was handed over to the estate office for correction and verification. This was when the land tax receipt for the year 2014-15 showed that the total land under the possession of the university after resurvey was 367.456 acres. The estate officer instead of reporting the matter to higher authorities, prepared a possession certificate claiming that the shortfall of 8.20 acres of land as being that used for roads and electric lines from the south block of the university. This was accepted by the university engineer without conducting any verification ignoring the fact that there would be no loss of land when electric lines passed through the property, the audit pointed out.