Supreme Court junks petition of Azam Khan’s trust against cancellation of land lease by UP govt

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to cancel a land lease of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar University run by a trust headed by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh.

“It appears he (Azam Khan) was actually the cabinet minister in-charge of the Ministry of Urban Development and was the minister for Minority Welfare. He got the land allotted to a family trust of which he is a lifetime member. The lease was initially in favour of a government institute that is tagged to a private trust. How can a lease, which was (meant) for a government institute be given to a private trust? It is a misuse of the office,” a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, dismissing the trust’s petition.

Petitioner Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust had challenged the Allahabad High Court’s March 18 order dismissing its petition against the state government’s March 31, 2023 decision to cancel the lease deed dated February 4, 2015.

The top court upheld the high court’s order cancelling the lease for the 3.24 acre plot allotted to the trust for violations of lease conditions and also on the ground that it was originally allotted for a research institute but a school was being run there.

However, it asked the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that no child was denied admission to a suitable educational institution after senior counsel Kapil Sibal submitted on behalf of the trust that children studying in the school should be shifted to some government school.

Sibal contended that the decision to cancel the lease in 2023 was taken without assigning any reasons.

Terming it a case of “nepotism” where the cabinet minister was the chairman of the private trust that was running the institution and he granted all approvals by bypassing the procedures prescribed in law, the Uttar Pradesh government had defended before the high court cancellation of the lease without a show-cause notice on the ground that public interest was of paramount consideration.

The land, which was acquired for the purpose of a research institute, was being used to run a school, it had said. Citing an SIT report, it had contended that sufficient opportunity was given to the petitioner trust to respond before the cancellation of the lease.