Rampur (Uttar Pradesh), (Asian independent) The Rampur district administration has issued orders for the acquisition of 173 acres of land belonging to the Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar Trust, which is run and owned by Samajwadi Party MP Mohd Azam Khan’s family.
The court of Additional District Magistrate (administration) J.P. Gupta ruled on Saturday that the Trust had violated the state government norms while purchasing the land and ordered the sub-divisional magistrate to acquire the varsity land.
Additional district government counsel (ADGC-civil) Ajay Tiwari said, “The Trust had violated the government order (GO) that permitted it to purchase more than 12 acres only on the condition that it will have to follow rules laid down by the GO.
It said the Trust would not buy land belonging to people from SC/ST categories, nor acquire riverbeds or floodplains or any land belonging to Gram Samaj land or a ‘Chak’ road. But the Trust violated these terms as well as sections of the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Act.”
The ADGC further said, “The court had earlier issued notices and summons to Azam Khan, the chairman of the Trust earlier, at Sitapur jail where he is presently lodged but he had refused to receive the notices,”
In January 2020, a revenue board court in Prayagraj had directed the government to take over around 100 bighas of land in Rampur allegedly purchased from 12 Dalit farmers under coercion. The revenue board had found that Khan had flouted the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act.
Khan is the chancellor of the Muhammad Ali Jauhar University, which is spread over 500 acres and was established in 2006.
He is also the chairman of the Trust that runs it while his wife Tanzeen Fatma, his two sons are members of the Trust. Azam’s elder sister is the Trust’s treasurer.
