GOVERNOR TV Rajeswar today assured Urban Development Minister Mohd Azam Khan to consider the pending Bill on the establishment of Mohd Ali Jauhar University at Rampur after getting reply to his queries from the State government.
Khan, who met the governor here on Monday along with Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, said the governor had told him that there was no rigidity on his part in clearing the controversial Bill but he (governor) wanted that the hurdles in the establishment of the university should be removed. The Bill, envisaging appointment of Khan as the pro-chancellor of the proposed university, is pending with the governor for nearly two years. The governor had recently asked the government to vet the Bill in the light of the Supreme Court judgment in connection with the private universities Bill of Chattisgarh.
Khan drew the conclusion after discussing the issue with the governor that the establishment of the university would soon be possible.
Khan said 125 acres land for the project had been purchased and the construction work had already started. He said a detailed project report was also given to the governor. However, Khan, who is not pulling on well with Rampur MP Jaya Prada, had recently returned Rs 25 lakh which she had given from the MP local area fund for the university. In a curt reply Khan, accusing Jaya Prada of doing no development work for Rampur, had said she could utilise the fund for other schemes. While Khan returned Jaya Prada’s fund, Minister for Haj and Minorities Welfare Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, who had donated Rs 10 lakh for the university, demanded the money back on the ground that the project was aimed at befooling the Muslim community.
{{/usCountry}}Khan said 125 acres land for the project had been purchased and the construction work had already started. He said a detailed project report was also given to the governor. However, Khan, who is not pulling on well with Rampur MP Jaya Prada, had recently returned Rs 25 lakh which she had given from the MP local area fund for the university. In a curt reply Khan, accusing Jaya Prada of doing no development work for Rampur, had said she could utilise the fund for other schemes. While Khan returned Jaya Prada’s fund, Minister for Haj and Minorities Welfare Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, who had donated Rs 10 lakh for the university, demanded the money back on the ground that the project was aimed at befooling the Muslim community.
{{/usCountry}}Khan also apprised the governor of the development scheme around Gandhi Samadhi in Rampur. The removal of the Samadhi for widening of the road had snowballed into a major political controversy in Rampur, as the Congress had launched a movement against its dislocation. The governor too visited the Samadhi on April 26 amid threat by Khan to disrupt his visit if he was accompanied by Congress leaders. However, today after assuring the governor to turn Samadhi into another “Raj Ghat” Khan presented him a blue print of the project. He said the Congress had been unnecessarily creating problems over the issue.