In yet another shocker from school education department, government land handed over to an educational institution measuring 10 Kanals has been illegally sold to a private party.
According to officials, the land was provided to DAV Trust to run a school in Magarmal Bagh area of Srinagar. However the State land has been sold to a private party seven years ago.
“There is no mention in the official records whether the institution got this land on lease or free. There is no record available in Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) either,” officials said.
They said the land has been sold for Rs 13 crores in violation of rules. The land scam surfaced recently after the DAV management highlighted the issue of disappearance of school records following which the directorate was prompted to start investigations into the matter.
“Some school records had gone missing due to fraudulent means by some people including officials in school education department some seven years ago,” officials said.
As per officials, DAV schools were under control of DSEK and concerned Chief Education Officer (CEO) since 1990 by virtue of various lower court orders. “After migration of minority community the school was administered by education department till September 2013,” they said, adding that the DAV administration was handed over the management by virtue of a High Court order.
The DAV management had approached Vigilance department complaining that ‘officials of DSEK in 2006 arbitrarily sealed the school and handed it over to land mafia.’ “No records were handed over by DSEK to DAV management including the land papers and other important documents,” reads a complaint submitted by DAV management.
Confirming the development, Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Dr. Shah Faesal said the land has been fraudulently sold to a private party in 2008. “We have referred the case to Vigilance department for in-depth investigations.”
Faesal said he visited the spot on Thursday and started demarcation of the land which was provided to DAV management for establishing a school. “It is not proved yet whether the land was given on lease or free,” he said, adding that they would wait for the Vigilance report.
