QAU asks locals to vacate land or face action

Varsity admin asks MPhil, PhD scholars to collect belongings from hostels to make room for BS students

ISLAMABAD:

The Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) administration has given a 24-hour ultimatum to the residents to vacate the illegally occupied land by March 14, or face operation.

The QAU administration said that the Survey of Pakistan has demarcated the university land and the Capital Development Authority has also approved it.

The university said that illegal occupants should vacate the land by Tuesday, otherwise, their houses will be demolished. On the other hand, the residents, reacting to notices sent by the university administration, said that they have been living in the area for decades, and that they owned the land.

The residents said that they will not vacate the land of their ancestors under any circumstances.

They said that they had documentary evidence given to them by institutions concerned including the CDA, authenticating their right to the land.

In a notice sent to the residents living on land adjacent to the university, the QAU administration said that the persons illegally occupying the university land were informed to remove their belongings, building debris and other related things from the university land within three days, and vacate land of the university land.

Otherwise, at the request of the university administration, the Islamabad district administration, the CDA and Islamabad police will take action to vacate the land and the illegal houses will be razed as per law.

According to sources, the university administration has sent notices to 41 houses and more notices will be sent in the next 24 hours.

Sources said that several villages exist on the university land. Electricity and gas facilities are also available in these villages. Sources said that the provision of gas and electricity meters in an area meant the ISCO, the SNGPL and the CDA have accepted the villages as regularised.

Sources said that when the NOCs have been issued to the residents, why would they vacate their houses? Action can be taken only against those settlements which have no NOCs of regularisation from civic agencies.

Meanwhile, the QAU administration has directed MPhil and PhD scholars to collect their belongings from the hostel rooms two weeks after they were evicted from the hostels.

The vacated hostel rooms will be allotted to BS students. The university administration said that hostel administrations will not be responsible if the scholars failed to pick up their belongings by March 14.

In response to the notice, the scholars said that “the university is a research institute and eviction of MPhil and PhD scholars from hostels to accommodate BS students was not only a betrayal of the scholars but also the education system.

We have paid the fees for the expenses of the entire semester and hostels. Secondly, when the students were being evicted from the hostels, they were not allowed to pick their goods, all the hostels were closed immediately.

The 21-member committee earlier recommended the evacuation of MPhil and PhD scholars from hostel 3 and hostel 4 and allot it to the BS students.

The students were of the view that of the list of 79 students involved in the fight rusticated by the university administration, 71 students were BS students.

They said that now hostels were being allotted to BS students and such a decision was beyond comprehension.

A notification issued by the university hostels’ administration stated that if the students did not collect their belongings by March 14, the administration will shift them to another place, and the administration will not be responsible in case their goods go missing.

The university administration said that later these hostels will be re-allotted under the new hostel policy.

Talking to the media, the university students said that they will not accept the notification in any way if their belongings were damaged, MPhil and PhD scholars will take legal action against the vice-chancellor and the registrar and whoever was involved in it.

While academic activities continue to remain suspended at the QAU after two student groups clashed on the campus two weeks back, the top-ranking higher education institution has introduced a lengthy set of rules under the new policy for male and female students seeking admissions to hostels.