JNTU-Hyderabad lacks its own land, still operates on leased property, paid Rs.90 crore in rent over the years

Over five decades on, JNTU-Hyderabad still without own land - The JNTU-Hyderabad, which is operating in 89 acre land leased from KPHB, has already paid Rs.90 crore as lease rental over the years

Hyderabad: The Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) – Hyderabad, which has the distinction of being the first technological university in the country, is grappling with a persistent problem – it does not have land of its own.

Since its inception in 1972, the university has been operating from 89 acre of land initially leased from the l Kukatpally Housing Board (KPHB). Despite being the first and oldest technological university in the country, it has never been allotted permanent land by the successive governments, forcing the varsity to function under aease agreement.

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Initially, the land was allotted by the KPHB board to the university. Later, the government dissolved the Board and land came under the Roads and Buildings department.

Every year, the university has been shelling out around Rs.2 crore as the lease rental to the department with 10 percent annual rental enhancement. In addition to this, the varsity is footing an annual property tax of around Rs.90 lakh to the State government.

Over years, the university paid around Rs.90 crore as lease rental, which is leading to significant financial strain on the varsity, limiting its ability to expand infrastructure. Since the university already paid Rs.90 crore, faculty and students want the government to consider the entire paid amount as land value and hand over the land title to the varsity.

The Executive Council of the JNTU-Hyderabad, according to sources, has recently passed a resolution seeking full authority of the land besides obtaining the land title deeds from the government. The university has also sent a letter to the State government on the same. However, no concrete steps have been taken by the government so far.

Since the lease rental is draining the university coffers, the JNTU-Hyderabad has not paid the lease rental for the last five to six years, hoping that their request for transfer of the land title to the varsity fructifies, sources said.

“While the Central University is operating in 1,700 acres, the JNTU-Hyderabad has just 89 acres that is also leased land. We have already paid Rs.90 crore over the years as lease rental. We have been asking the government to hand over the existing land to the university for the past several years. We are hoping that the university will get its own land soon,” said Prof. T Kishen Kumar Reddy, Vice Chancellor JNTU-Hyderabad.