LAHORE: The Punjab government continues to use the University of the Punjab (PU) land without any compensation. Some three years ago, the Punjab government took away more than 700-kanal PU land worth billions of rupees and constructed a wide road in the heart of Lahore, connecting Maulana Shaukat Ali (MSA) Road from canal to Karim Block of Allama Iqbal Town, without paying a single penny. The New Campus land was not given to PU by the government. In fact, PU purchased the land in 1963 by paying around Rs 6.4 million from its own treasury. The then vice chancellor, Dr Mujahid Kamran, gave away the land with an unwritten promise from the Punjab government that he would be given the third tenure as PU VC. This road has cut the once lush green serene PU New Campus into two halves, without any connection through underpasses. The provincial government did promise to build two underpasses and pay Rs 300 million to PU for the acquired land. However, nothing has been done in this regard yet in spite of PU’s written request to the government in this regard. In the meantime, several accidents have taken place due to the absence of underpasses, including one two weeks ago that resulted in the death of a female student of the College of Statistics and Actuarial Sciences. In order to consolidate his chances for the third tenure, Dr Kamran gave away another 8-kanal land at PU Old Campus for the Orange Train project, again without adding even a rupee to the PU treasury. The government is now formulating ways to snatch the now commercial land on both sides of the huge corridor on MSA Road. Free of charge, of course. The National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) and Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) have already made several tries in this regard. However, the general body of the PU Academic Staff Association (PUASA) has recently passed a resolution to not give any piece of land to any government or non-government body for any purpose. PUASA resolution further says that the PU land, according to PU Act, may only be used for academic purpose. Further, in a meeting held last week under the chairmanship of PU VC, Dr Zaffar Mueen Nasar, all PU Deans and Principals of Constituent Colleges have thrown their full support to the PUASA resolution. The whole PU teaching community has asked Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif to direct his administration to stop sniffing the PU land and instead have the mosque constructed in the premises of the government offices on Lake Road (next to Madrassatul Banat). This meeting was held to discuss another “order to VC” by the Punjab government to give away another 2-kanal land from the University Grounds to build a mosque that has to be demolished due to Orange Train project. It has been learnt that the mosque belongs to, JUI (Maulana Fazal ur Rehman group), a staunch PML-N’s political ally. The Deans, Principals, elected members of the PU Syndicate, ASA executives, and representative of the Deans in the Syndiate (Dr Zakria Zakar) voiced against allocation of this land. HED Secretary Nabeel Awan has been pressing the PU VC to make sure that the land is allocated for the said purpose at the earliest. In the meantime, Khawaja Hassaan, adviser to CM, has also intervened in order to find a way forward. People in the government and PU who are privy to the situation say that the government is now trying to mislead the PU administration and teachers by saying that the land would remain a property of the PU and the mosque would also be constructed by PU using its own procedures and offices. They say that a contract has already been signed between the mosque administration from JUI and the government on this issue. The contract guarantees allocation of land for the mosque at a place in the University Grounds at Old Campus, which will always remain in full legal control of the current mosque administration and PU administration will have nothing to do with it. Further, the smartly chosen location for the mosque will be easily “expandable” in future by grabbing more PU land free of charge. The PU teachers and staff are up in arms about the issue. They say that the government is not advertising the post of PU VC so they could grab this and more land through the Provisional VC, Dr Zaffar Mueen Nasar. During the last decade, the government had snatched over 33 kanals of PU land for the expansion of Pekhewal Morr, the Baba Ground (aka Chishtia High School Ground) next to the Punjab Secretariat, over 700 kanals for MSA Road, 8 kanals for the Orange Train project, and now two kanals more for the same project. All for free. The Punjab government does not pay a single penny to PU budget for the academic or infrastructural uplift of PU. It was Prof Dr Khalid Hameed Sheikh who preferred to resign from the post of PU VC in 1997 instead of giving four marla land to the government for a slip road at the Barkat Market crossing. It was after this incident that the provincial government had changed Section 14(6) of the PU Act, saying that vice chancellor will be appointed by the chancellor for a four-year term “but he shall serve during the pleasure of the chancellor.” The angry PU community says that the government must pay Rs 300 million to the PU, build two underpasses on the MSA Road in order to connect the two parts of the PU New Campus, and stop sniffing the PU land once for all. They further urge that the chief justice of Pakistan should take immediate suo moto notice of the situation in this regard and stop the government from guzzling up more PU land. Published in Daily Times, January 1st 2018.