KU fears IBA might take 52.25 acres of its land
KU administration forwarded the issue to its Syndicate that will decide the matter in its November 27 meeting.
KARACHI:
After acquiring ownership rights to the Institute of Business Administration’s city campus land in Saddar, now the IBA has its eyes on owning the campus land at the University of Karachi.
To give IBA the land it wants, the Ministry of Defence’s subsidiary body, Survey of Pakistan, has asked KU for the university map. The Survey of Pakistan is the organisation that deals with the technicalities of land mutation (changes in ownership). It conducts a survey of the land in question and then prepares a map, which is the final map of the land.
However, in order to protect its 52.25 acres, the KU administration has forwarded the issue - along with the letter from the Survey of Pakistan - to its Syndicate that will decide the matter in its November 27 meeting. The Syndicate, which is KU’s governing body, is responsible and has the authority to transfer university land ownership rights.
According to officials, IBA had written a letter to the Survey of Pakistan on May 4, requesting ownership rights of the institute’s academic and administration blocks, boys’ hostel and staff residence colony located at KU. Hence, they had asked for the organisation to conduct a survey to settle the transfer of rights.
Karachi University’s deputy registrar (legal) Asif Mukhtar said that the university asked the Syndicate to take up the issue in its meeting so that the university could protect the land and avoid it going into IBA’s hands.
On August 17, 1994, the Sindh Assembly had passed an act, upgrading IBA’s status to a degree-awarding institute and hence, approved the mutation and allotment of land to it as well. But the question is, if the IBA had permission to acquire ownership of the land since 1994, why is the issue being raised now? According to officials, IBA’s relatively new director and former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain has been expediting the matter. Along with his letter to the Survey of Pakistan on May 4, he had written a letter to KU’s vice-chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui on May 10, asking him for the university’s map and related land documents.
KU officials say that at the moment, neither does the IBA pay any rent nor does it pay for any utilities used by the institute. If IBA gets ownership of this vast tract, the university would lose highly valuable land with which it could possibly generate revenue if IBA paid rent or for utilities, officials add.
Condemning IBA’s demand for land ownership of its KU campus, Karachi University Teachers Society president Dr Abid Hasnain said the land belongs to the students of Karachi University. “We will not accept the land mutation to IBA at any cost.” He said that separating IBA from KU in 1994 was wrong and attempts were made to transfer ownership rights to them.
The land at stake
According to a KU engineer, IBA is claiming 52.25 acres of land which includes:
IBA residence: 25.61 acres (12.8 acres used and 12.81 acres unused)
Academic, administration block: 22.14 acres (6.63 acres used and 15.51 acres unused)
The boys’ hostel: 4.5 acres
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2010.
After acquiring ownership rights to the Institute of Business Administration’s city campus land in Saddar, now the IBA has its eyes on owning the campus land at the University of Karachi.
To give IBA the land it wants, the Ministry of Defence’s subsidiary body, Survey of Pakistan, has asked KU for the university map. The Survey of Pakistan is the organisation that deals with the technicalities of land mutation (changes in ownership). It conducts a survey of the land in question and then prepares a map, which is the final map of the land.
However, in order to protect its 52.25 acres, the KU administration has forwarded the issue - along with the letter from the Survey of Pakistan - to its Syndicate that will decide the matter in its November 27 meeting. The Syndicate, which is KU’s governing body, is responsible and has the authority to transfer university land ownership rights.
According to officials, IBA had written a letter to the Survey of Pakistan on May 4, requesting ownership rights of the institute’s academic and administration blocks, boys’ hostel and staff residence colony located at KU. Hence, they had asked for the organisation to conduct a survey to settle the transfer of rights.
Karachi University’s deputy registrar (legal) Asif Mukhtar said that the university asked the Syndicate to take up the issue in its meeting so that the university could protect the land and avoid it going into IBA’s hands.
On August 17, 1994, the Sindh Assembly had passed an act, upgrading IBA’s status to a degree-awarding institute and hence, approved the mutation and allotment of land to it as well. But the question is, if the IBA had permission to acquire ownership of the land since 1994, why is the issue being raised now? According to officials, IBA’s relatively new director and former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain has been expediting the matter. Along with his letter to the Survey of Pakistan on May 4, he had written a letter to KU’s vice-chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui on May 10, asking him for the university’s map and related land documents.
KU officials say that at the moment, neither does the IBA pay any rent nor does it pay for any utilities used by the institute. If IBA gets ownership of this vast tract, the university would lose highly valuable land with which it could possibly generate revenue if IBA paid rent or for utilities, officials add.
Condemning IBA’s demand for land ownership of its KU campus, Karachi University Teachers Society president Dr Abid Hasnain said the land belongs to the students of Karachi University. “We will not accept the land mutation to IBA at any cost.” He said that separating IBA from KU in 1994 was wrong and attempts were made to transfer ownership rights to them.
The land at stake
According to a KU engineer, IBA is claiming 52.25 acres of land which includes:
IBA residence: 25.61 acres (12.8 acres used and 12.81 acres unused)
Academic, administration block: 22.14 acres (6.63 acres used and 15.51 acres unused)
The boys’ hostel: 4.5 acres
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2010.