Ex-bureaucrats urge UP government to halt demolition of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University

A group of former bureaucrats on Tuesday urged the Uttar Pradesh government to put on hold the demolition proceedings for 38 of the 40 buildings at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, until all legal options for regularising the structures are exhausted.

The Constitutional Conduct Group wrote to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressing concern about the demolition order issued by the Rampur Development Authority on July 15.

The university was founded by jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. The authorities have said that all the buildings in the university campus except the medical college and the academic block were constructed “without approval”.

On Monday, the Moradabad Divisional Commissioner’s court stayed the demolition until the final hearing, The Hindu reported.

The retired civil servants said that while planning laws and judicial directions must be complied with, the “far-reaching consequences” of demolition of the buildings require careful consideration.

“A university is more than its buildings,” the letter read. “It represents the aspirations of thousands of students, the dedication of its faculty, the livelihoods of its employees, and years of investment in educational infrastructure.”

It also said that large-scale demolitions would disrupt classrooms, laboratories, libraries, hostels and other essential facilities, threatening academic activities and affecting the region’s educational ecosystem.

The former bureaucrats urged the state government to “exhaust” every legal option to regularise...

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