KP govt to sell university land to settle long-standing Rs25 billion dispute

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has developed a plan to sell additional land for four universities to resolve the long-standing land dispute.

According to Supreme Court orders, the KP government now owes Rs25 billon to four universities in the province: Agricultural University Peshawar, Engineering University, Abdul Wali Khan University, and Medical College Mardan.

The decision to sell excess land from these four universities to resolve the outstanding dues was taken in a cabinet meeting

Minister of Higher Education KP government Meena Khan Afridi has clarified that the perception of selling university land due to a financial crisis is incorrect.

Minister Meena Khan Afridi also noted that the land dispute has been ongoing in the courts for the past ten to fifteen years.

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The minister added that a decision has been made to sell land outside the master plans of the relevant universities to make payments to the landowners

According to Meena Khan Afridi, delays in payments as per the court decision are causing the dues to increase by hundreds of thousands of rupees daily.

According to sources, in 2008 the ANP government purchased 5,000 kanals of land in Mardan for the Bacha Khan Greater Education Complex. Of this land, 2,000 kanals were allocated for Abdul Wali Khan University, 1,000 kanals for Bacha Khan Medical Complex, 1,600 kanals for the Agricultural University Campus in Mardan, and 400 kanals for the Engineering University in Mardan.

Asa result of court rulings, the per-marla price of the purchased land increased, and the provincial government became obligated to pay Rs30 billion to the landowners.

Sources further revealed that when the issue of payments to the landowners of the Bacha Khan Greater Education Complex was presented to the cabinet under the caretaker government, the cabinet stated that such payments are the responsibility of an elected government. Consequently, the caretaker cabinet was unable to make a decision on the matter.

When the issue was presented to the current provincial cabinet, the cabinet decided to form a committee under the leadership of Provincial Advisor for Anti-Corruption Brigadier (retd) Musaddiq Abbasi to make a decision on the matter.

The committee includes the Provincial Minister for Higher Education, Provincial Minister for Health, Provincial Minister for Food, Senior Member of the Board of Revenue, Secretary of Higher Education, Secretary of Health, and Secretary of Agriculture.

According to an official source, several meetings of the committee were held, and the committee prepared recommendations to sell 700 kanals of land owned by Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Bacha Khan Medical Complex Mardan, and the Agricultural University Complex Mardan in order to facilitate payments to landowners. The current market value of this land is Rs33 billion.

Former Chief Minister and ANP leader Amir Haider Khan Hoti has labelled the decision to sell the land of the Bacha Khan Greater Education Complex as a failure of the provincial government and stated that ANP rejects this decision.