Jai Ram hails HC ruling on university land issue

Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur has welcomed the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s decision to halt the transfer of land from Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar HP Agricultural University to the Tourism Department. Thakur criticised the state government, urging it to abandon its stubbornness and allow the university to focus solely on agricultural education, training and research.

Thakur expressed gratitude to the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural Teachers’ Association for seeking legal recourse against the government’s actions. He noted that the university, which originally possessed 400 hectares of land, had already allocated 125 hectares to the government, leaving only 275 hectares for its operations. He emphasised that the remaining land was insufficient for conducting extensive agricultural research and training, unlike global agricultural institutions with vast tracts of land.

While Thakur acknowledged the government’s plans to create tourism villages, he asserted that such initiatives should not interfere with the productivity of agricultural institutions.