Save University of Hyderabad Campaign

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We, the teachers at the University of Hyderabad, teachers at other Indian Universities, activists, and concerned citizens of India, strongly oppose all moves to alienate/gift away land originally granted by the AP State Government to the University of Hyderabad in 1974. The resource of land is very important for the future developmental needs and interests of the university that is still in its early phase of growth. Moreover, the land on which the University of Hyderabad is located is part of the green belt of the city of Hyderabad. The lakes, rocks and the natural green cover of the university landscape should be left untouched.

The current administration of the University of Hyderabad under the vice-chancellorship of Dr Syed E Hasnain has made several attempts to alienate huge chunks of the university land. In a short span of five years, it has attempted to alienate more than 1000 acres out of 2324 acres that were granted to the university. However, some of this land alienation has been successfully stalled through resistance. First it allotted 200 acres to CARE Foundation, a corporate medical organization. The university community fought a successful battle against that allotment and got it cancelled. Later it tried to set up a so-called Knowledge and Innovation Park (KIP) by allotting 200 acres of the university land to corporate firms for ostensible R&D activity. Again the university community through a massive protest opposed this move and demanded a thorough review of all existing land deals. Further progress in setting up the Park has been stalled, although the university website still displays it. Moreover, previous land deals were never reviewed.

The administration has, however, succeeded in allotting university land to The Energy Research Institute (TERI), Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), National Institute of Smart Governance, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and so forth. The university administration is currently pressing ahead with moves to allot 150 acres to the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), and 30 acres to the National Institute of Design (NID). In all, this amounts to more than 600 acres of the university land.

If university land is being alienated at the behest of the State Government (as the university administration claims), this has serious implications for the autonomy of higher education institutions across the country. While some of the above-mentioned cases are state sector organizations and not private bodies, it is not clear how the specified allotments of land to those organizations are initiated and justified. Stakeholders such as teachers, students and employees have not been consulted (the university states this, as a matter of fact, in response to an RTI application regarding land alienation process in the university). Apart from these decisions being undemocratic and opaque, there is no justification for the amounts of land that are being given away. For instance, all campuses of TIFR in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru put together are situated on land not exceeding 75 acres. Why does TIFR require 210 acres in Hyderabad? Has it asked for that extent of land? If so, has it adequately justified its request? NIAB requires only 20 acres of land for its purpose according to experts on our campus, but why is it being given 150 acres?

We strongly believe that the current administration of the university has made generous and unilateral offers of the university land to curry favour with the science establishment and the powers-that-be in the Central Government, and it is also using government organizations as front institutions that will facilitate the entry of private sector bodies through Private-Public Partnership models.

We demand that:

1. Land being a valuable resource for the further development of a young university, the university administration should be made to adopt a highly cautious stance in considering requests for land allotment by outside organizations, whether private or public.

2. University administration should resist, not appease, the AP State Governments attempts to take back land given to the university, for no transfer of land to any organization is legally valid without university approval.

3. All the land allotments made in the last five years of the reign by the current administration be subjected to a thorough review and reconsideration, and all land allotments already made but now deemed unjustified in the review be cancelled and withdrawn. This should include an assessment of the ecological damage that these allotments bring forth both to the university as well as to the larger urban space of Hyderabad.

4. All stakeholders of the university (teachers, students and employees) should be given a chance to thoroughly discuss the merits of any future proposal to alienate university land.

5. A committee should be formed at the national level that will look into land alienation issues pertaining to any Indian University.

1242 Signatures

  • Y A Sudhakar Reddy
    • Affiliation
    • Professor, Center for Folk Culture Studies, University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • It is a truly significant battle!
  • Anupama Potluri
    • Affiliation
    • University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • I think that land alienation from educational institutions should stop. Secondly, UoH is one of the few biodiversity reserves in Hyderabad and should be preserved as such.
  • A.V.Raja
    • Affiliation
    • Professor of economics university of Hyderabad
  • Vathsala Narasimhan
    • Affiliation
    • Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Hyderabad
  • K. Laxminarayana
    • Affiliation
    • Department of Economics, University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • Public resources are being alienated undemocratically. This should be stopped and all previous deals should be reviewed.
  • Purendra Prasad
    • Affiliation
    • Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • This dilutes the spirit of public university.
  • Jagadish Nadimpalli
    • Affiliation
    • Student(MTech Computer Science)
    • Comments
    • В
  • M.Sivakumar
    • Affiliation
    • Professor of Physics,University of Hyderabad
  • jaya l yeruva
    • Affiliation
    • Alumni UOH
    • Comments
    • Land being given to private parties destroy's bio diversity of the university
  • Karunakar Reddy Parne
    • Affiliation
    • Cisco Systems
  • Kasinadh P divvela
    • Affiliation
    • University of Hyderabad Alumni
  • Vishnu Vardhan Reddy
    • Affiliation
    • Mtech
  • Purnachandar
    • Affiliation
    • HCU
  • Revathi Velam
    • Affiliation
    • Alumni
    • Comments
    • В
  • Rajendra P Lal
    • Affiliation
    • University of Hyderabad
  • Dr. Sathya Prakash
    • Affiliation
    • Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad
  • Naga Sita Sravanthi Upadrasta
    • Affiliation
    • Student(MTech Artificial Intelligence)
  • S Durga Bhavani
    • Affiliation
    • Department of Computer & Information Sciences, University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • The university is known for its rocks and lakes; snakes and peacocks. Much of this is being lost. The academic vision of the university needs to be planned at the department/school level and democratically.
  • Sudeep Guin
    • Affiliation
    • Alumni, MCA University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • It's really a shame that land belonging to the University is being given away for reasons better known to everyone. The university once used to be a hub of bio-diversity with various species of Fauna and Flora being supported by it. I dont understand the what the VC has in its vision for the university. But one thing is for sure that even if we can stand up together for this cause, things might change for the better of our University. Wake up Authorities.....
  • M. N. Venu Madhav.
    • Affiliation
    • M. Tech CS Alumni
    • Comments
    • В
  • Neelakantam Gaddam
    • Affiliation
    • Alumni of University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • Please save University of Hyderabad
  • T.Sobha Rani
    • Affiliation
    • Faculty, University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • We would like to preserve the flora and fauna of this place instead of letting people to come up with structures that would force them to dislocate.
  • D. Om Prakash
    • Affiliation
    • One Convergence Devices Ltd.
    • Comments
    • В
  • Udaya
    • Affiliation
    • UQAM
  • Naveen Kumar A V
    • Affiliation
    • HCU
  • saritha
    • Affiliation
    • M.Tech(2008) Alumni
    • Comments
    • В
  • Ramesh Kumar Chidem
    • Affiliation
    • NIC(National Informatics Centre)
    • Comments
    • В
  • B KIRAN KUMAR
    • Affiliation
    • MTech Computer Science
    • Comments
    • save the campus with what we have.. dont sell us
  • Swamy Venkatayogi
    • Affiliation
    • Ex-Student of University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • The land of the University needs to be save
  • ramesh
    • Affiliation
    • uoh
  • Mahesh babu
    • Affiliation
    • UoH
  • Santhosh Kumari
    • Affiliation
    • save university land
  • sathakoti
    • Affiliation
    • Ex-Student of University of Hyderabad
    • Comments
    • University builds lot of professionals in various domains, simultaneously creates good atmosphere to build the carrer, also encouraged lots of wild life. So better to save the univerisity, donnt reduce the space of university. It may creates lot of problems while studying. Take examples of JNTUH and OU. There was no private environment for students. Thank you.
  • Dileep Kumar Varma Penmetsa
    • Affiliation
    • M.Tech IT
  • Mallikarjun Tallapalli
    • Affiliation
    • MTech (CS) Alumni(2006-08 batch)
    • Comments
    • В
  • naveen
    • Affiliation
    • hcu
    • Comments
    • please save the land for our childrens those who are going to join hcu in future
  • Tholoana Masupha
    • Affiliation
    • Ex student
  • Srikanth Chaganti
    • Affiliation
    • Alumnus of the University
    • Comments
    • There is lot of space in Hyderabad. TIFR can be allocated land there. Hasnain should stop all these donations of UoH land.
  • chetan
    • Affiliation
    • Alumni of UoH
    • Comments
    • В
  • Amareshwar
    • Affiliation
    • Alumni of UoH
  • subramanyam kunisetti
    • Affiliation
    • old student
  • Anil Reddy Moogala
    • Affiliation
    • Student
  • Rajiv Saxena
    • Affiliation
    • M.Tech.(CS), DCIS
    • Comments
    • Please save University Land.
  • G V PADMAVATHI
    • Affiliation
    • HCU Alumni MCA 05
    • Comments
    • Please DO NOT sell the HCU land and keep back for future development of University functionalities
  • Hrudayanath Kommareddy
    • Affiliation
    • DCIS, UoH
    • Comments
    • Please Save UoH
  • ajaykumar
    • Affiliation
    • university of yderabad
  • Krishna Chaitanya Marella.
    • Affiliation
    • MTech - AI.
    • Comments
    • HCU will become like one of the many IT parks around Hyderabad that look like some Human factories without any soul. Please don't spoil the atmosphere in this beautiful university, instead use it for developing a small bird or animal sanctuary or some museum if ever you feel like lot of space is not utilized.
  • srikanth jampala
    • Affiliation
    • Alumni of UoH
  • Sylvia Grace
    • Affiliation
    • MCA 2006 batch
  • Neelakanta Reddy
    • Affiliation
    • software engineer
    • Comments
    • university land must be saved and minimize the land given to other organizations