Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has accused the local municipal corporation of illegally occupying part of its land, while the civic body claimed the property belongs to the government.
The Aligarh Municipal Corporation, on August 20, fenced a nearly 3.8-acre plot of AMU’s Riding Field land worth around Rs 500 crore, and initiated bulldozer action, prompting university officials, including Vice Chancellor Professor Naima Khatoon, to reach the spot.
Terming it an illegal occupation, the university asserted that the land is its legally owned property since 1925 and that it possesses all “documents, records, and legal evidence” to prove as much.
“The university has been in possession of the land since June 13, 1925, under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894,” said AMU in an official statement. It said that in November 1940, the governor of the United Provinces (the former name of Uttar Pradesh) acquired the land for Aligarh Muslim University.
Stating that the university operates under the Central Government, AMU said its property is also under the Centre’s control.
VC Khatoon said she was deeply hurt by the municipal corporation’s act, which “without serving any notice encroached on the land of AMU.”
“The university will take up all legal procedures to get it solved; we will move the Supreme Court as well,” she said, adding that the bulldozer action was an “unwarranted and unacceptable step.”
Speaking to local media during the administrative action, the Vice Chancellor said the move was “simply a forcible occupation of a plot of land that belongs to a historic centre of higher learning in the country.”
University claims its revenue records were tampered with
The university said in its statement that its revenue records were “secretly tampered with” in 1992 without approval or order from a competent authority.
AMU claimed it learned of this “fraud” only in 2003 and had been making continuous efforts to rectify it. “On March 29, 2025, AMU formally submitted its claim before the competent authority seeking correction of the revenue records. The matter remains pending before the SDM, Kol (now Aligarh),” its statement read.
The university said it was alarming that the municipal corporation was trying to take possession of the land while the ownership dispute was ongoing.
Citing a 2022 joint measurement report by the Tehsildar, Kanoongo and Lekhpal, the university said the disputed land belongs to the AMU Riding Field.
The Aligarh Muslim University demanded that the administration immediately stop the “illegal action” and maintain the status quo until the matter is disposed of legally.
Aligarh District Magistrate Avinash Kumar told reporters on August 21 that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate court is cognisant of the issue and has sent notices to both the university and the municipal corporation.
“The Proctor and their property manager came. They showed me their records, which stated that the land was already registered in their name, and they moved to Ganjav probably around the 1990s,” said Kumar.
Since it is a matter of archival investigation, the DM said a documentary investigation is necessary. “Given the sensitivity of the issue, as both the municipal corporation and AMU are state property, AMU administration has filed a record correction suit in the SDM court.”
Both parties have been informed to present their respective records, based on which action will be taken, Kumar said.
