Hyderabad: The resistance from a section of students and professors of the Osmania University against the conversion of two old dilapidated professors’ quarters into a tribal museum-cum-research centre has opened a Pandora’s box of long-standing issues concerning the use of the university’s land for various purposes in the last several decades.
On August 16, 2023, the then university administration had allotted professors quarter number P2 located right opposite to the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation’s (TGSRTC) multi-specialty hospital at Tarnaka, on lease to retired Professor Jayadheer Tirumala Rao, founder and trustee of Adi Dhwani Foundation.
The lease is valid till August 31, 2025. As per the allotment letter, the lease could be terminated at any time with a month’s notice. It was noted that no extension would be considered, and that the electricity, water and maintenance had to be borne by the Trust.
On September 10, 2024, another quarter P3, located adjacent to P2, measuring 9,800 sq ft and the open space around it, was allotted to Adi Dhwani Trust when Dana Kishore was the in-charge vice-chancellor of the university. The lease was again for two years, but could be extended.
Again, this time, the term of the lease was for two years, given away for a nominal rent of Rs 12,000 per year. The allotment letter states that the Trust will have to bear all the costs of renovations and fittings in the quarters, and by informing the university about the works.
Adi Dhwani Trust applied for quarter number P1 on the same premises, the allotment of which has neither been confirmed nor has it been disclosed yet. However, rumours are making the rounds about that quarter being leased out for 30 years.
The Trustee approached the state government for assistance in renovating the two professors’ quarters for setting up a tribal museum with 6 mini-museums. The state government engaged the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Agency (HMDA) for the works, and sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the same.
Three months ago, the renovation works began using the same technology used during the Nizam’s era for construction, which used lime mortar. All the old and worn-out fixtures were removed, and the two professors’ quarters were almost completed. In a month, it would have been ready to occupy.
The news broke out that the professors’ quarters were being given away at throwaway prices for a period of 30 years on lease, and the students and professors were naturally anguished.
Three days ago, when the renovation work was going on, a group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) reached there, allegedly indulged in a brawl with the workers and halted the work.
The police were called in, but they allegedly were mere spectators to the scene, as students were highly charged.
On Wednesday, May 28, the contractor finally decided to wrap up and leave.
“I have done my part of the work, and I can claim the bills for it. But those who are opposing this, do they even know what is coming up here? The lands in OU are being given on lease to petrol bunks, bars and restaurants and theatres. What’s wrong with opening a tribal museum?” asked Ravinder, who won the HMDA’s contract bid for the renovations, speaking to Siasat.com.
Jayadheer Tirumala Rao is a well-known professor, historian, writer and collector of artefacts belonging to the indigenous communities across southern India and beyond.
He served as the director of the publications division and the head of the department, folk and tribal lore in the Sri Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, and has also acted as the director of the Andhra Pradesh manuscripts, library and research department in the Osmania University from 2005 to 2010.
He has a collection of around 5,000 tribal artefacts, and has been looking for the past several years for some space where he could preserve them.
He, along with retired professor Manoja and three other like-minded persons, started Adi Dhwani Trust three years ago to preserve the indigenous knowledge, literature and artefacts, and to further their research in the tribal domain.
His idea was to establish six mini-museums as part of the tribal museum in those professors’ quarters.
It can be mentioned that the efforts of Professor Jayadheer Tirumala Rao and Professor Manoja had brought to the fore the indigenous musical talent of Kinnera folk artist Darshanam Mogilaiah, won was subsequently honoured with Padma Shri by former President of India Ramnath Kovind in 2022.
Professor Bhadriraju Krishnamurthi, who is known as the legend of Indian and Dravidian linguistics, lived in one of these professors’ quarters while he taught in the Arts College. He also served as the vice-chancellor of the Hyderabad Central University (now the University of Hyderabad).
Not many know, but it was on his advice that the entire syllabus was overhauled in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, when former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao was the education minister of the state.
Former dean and head of departments psychology, education and management, Professor EG Parameshwara,n to,o lived in one of these quarters.
Professor Manohar, who is the president of Osmania University Teachers Association (OUTA), has been vehemently opposing the allotment of professors’ quarters on lease to Adi Dhwani Trust, or any other private organisation or institutio,n for that matter.
His objective is to protect the lands of OU, which have been shrinking over the decades, from further alienation. He sticks to the report of the retired Supreme Court Justice O Chinnappa Reddy’s one-man Commission, which was constituted on January 21, 1994, to inquire into the irregularities in leasing out or transferring OU lands to private and government entities in the past.
Professor Manohar suspects that the lease allotment to Adi Dhwani Trust was done unilaterally, without even going through the scrutiny of the university’s executive council, the minutes of which, he claims, were missing.
In fact, it was the ABVP which had played a pivotal role in raising the issue of irregularities in giving away the university lands by the executive council. ABVP had also made allegations against the then vice-chancellor on those lines. It was the vice-chancellor who had ordered an inquiry.
ABVP members had assisted Chinnappa Reddy by submitting a detailed account of encroachments, and land given away to organisations and institutions which neither had anything to do with the university’s academic activities, nor were they useful for the welfare of the students or the faculty.
Justice Chinnappa Reddy had also thanked the members of the Progressive Democratic Students Association (PDSU) for their cooperation in the inquiry.
Justice Chinnappa Reddy commission builds on the Committee constituted by the OU vice-chancellor on December 3, 1984, to lay down detailed guidelines for alienation of land on the campus to outside agencies. That committee was chaired by Professor Jafar Nizam, Dean, Faculty of Science, OU.
That committee had resolved “that the practice of allotting University land be dispensed with and no land shall be alienated irrespective of the fact whether the requisitioning authority is of educational/ Research nature or otherwise.”
The committee had also resolved “to seek the advice of the Government in regard to the action to be taken in respect of the organisation/institutions which have already taken possession of University land on a lease basis but failed to start construction within the stipulated date as laid down in the lease deed.”
The committee had also resolved to get the university’s land measured and that an authentic map be prepared and verified by the concerned authorities.
That committee’s resolutions were adopted by the syndicate of the university on December 26, 1986. On May 4, 1990, the principal secretary had replied, stating, “I am directed to advise that no University land should be sold or alienated or leased out to any non-governmental organisation or individual without prior permission of Government, since the State Government provides land to the Universities.”
The Chinnappa Reddy Commission had opined that there was no strong and compelling reason to make any departure from the 1986 resolution passed by the university.
“The availability of a large extent of land with the University seems to have the effect of converging all eyes on the University land and to make everyone demand allotments of University land for one purpose or the other, sometimes, offering some so-called facilities to the staff and students of the University. The resolution dated 26.12.1986 was a wise resolution and an enunciation of a sound policy. I would advise the authorities to stick to the resolution strictly and to deal with all pending and future applications in the light of that resolution,” The Chinnappa Reddy Commission’s report read.
The report discussed 4 instances of alienating university land to outside agencies since December 1986, and found fault with the way the university administration departed from the 1986 resolution for alienating land in favour of the Director of Archaeology Museum, for the construction of a building to house manuscript library (Andhra Pradesh manuscripts, library and research department for which Professor Jayadheer Tirumala Rao acted as the director from 2005 to 2010).
Interestingly, the state government had recommended the alienation of that land at the time.
The Chinnappa Reddy commission thoroughly scrutinised 12 applications for alienation of university lands that were pending by then.
There were private agencies, state government departments and institutions, and also central government institutions which had requested for alienation of OU lands. The Chinnappa Reddy commission had categorically recommended against it.
For instance, the Commission had also recommended against alienating lands within the university-affiliated colleges, citing the future expansion plans of various departments and the need to protect those lands for the expansion of various academic programs in the future.
The Commission was extremely critical of the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority’s (HUDA) application for allotment of 305 sq mts, though it was allotted 6.08 acres in 1976, for the construction of an office cum commercial complex for the benefit of the residents of Tarnaka.
“It may be mentioned here that in the land earlier allotted to the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority, they have also constructed a theatre and a restaurant, and a bar. The construction of the
theatre, restaurant and bar, more particularly, the construction of the ba,r is detrimental to the
interest of the students of the University. It should have never been permitted,” the Commission noted.
The Commission just stuck to the 1986 resolutions in recommending against the alienation of almost all these pending applications.
The Commission had also noted that before 1986, OU lands spreading across 225 acres were given on long leases and 34 parcels of land (not in acres) were given as absolute transfers.
However, the Commission felt that it didn’t believe that any useful purpose could be served
by attempting to go behind the lands alienated in the past, and trying to find out whether the alienations were justified or not.
“They seem to have acted on the assumption that, subject to the approval of the Government, they had the absolute discretion to permit alienation of University land if there was some benefit to the public even
if it was of some remote or even no advantage to the University. “This typical feudal attitude of
University authorities of thinking and acting like Jagirdari Landlords bestowing land on supplicants must change,” the Chinnappa Reddy Commission observed.
The entire Osmania University’s land was once the Jagir of Mah Laqa Bai Chanda, an Urdu poet, a philanthropist and a great performer in the Nizam’s court. The entire Jagir was given as a gift to her by the rulers of the time. As she didn’t have progeny, her land was used by the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan for the construction of the university, the lands of which were spread around 5,000 acres.
Her Jagir spanned across Lalapet to Amberpet, and Sitaphalmandi to Ramanthapur.
People familiar with the OU affairs say that presently, only 1,200 acres or less of that land is left with the university.
After the merger of the erstwhile Hyderabad State with the Indian union, and in the century that followed, those lands were given away to several institutions including Doordarshan in Ramanthapur, Regional Research Laboratory (which is now the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology), Hyderabad Public School in Ramanthapur, Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, National Institute of Nutrition, and many others. The land was also alienated to various government departments.
It is noteworthy that the entire area of Habsiguda was given to Dalits, which was known as Harijan Basthi by the Nizam in the 1920s. Even the backwards classes were given that land, but they had refused to take possession, as it would have involved staying alongside the Dalits.
According to Madhusudhan, whose father used to work in Osmania University’s printing press, the white-collar illegal-made-legal occupation of the OU lands started in the late 1970s, when there was a devastating cyclone in Andhra Pradesh.
“The wealthy people from the Andhra region who migrated to Hyderabad and got all the revenue records to check where lands were available, and from whom they could purchase. They became the legal owners of large swathes of land,” he said.
For instance, late industrialist and AP legislator Mullapudi Harischandra Prasad had become the owner of 10-12 acres in Lalapet, where he had built the famous Mullapudi Mahal, where he lived.
Madhusudhan, now in his late 60s, tells Siasat.com that there used to be a lake where the present Sports Authority’s Cycling Velodrome stands on the Adikmet main road.
Even the Chinnappa Reddy Commission talked about large swathes of land in Tarnaka and Habsiguda areas that had gone into legal disputes, and were sold away in smaller bits by those who claimed to be the heirs.
The Durgabai Deshmukh Colony (DD Colony), located adjacent to the NCC gate, where the leaders of all political parties, even senior judges, live, was once Osmania University’s land. Manikeshwari Nagar on the Adikmet side was also OU land.
It is interesting to note that the residents of Manikeshwari Nagar held relay hunger strike for almost a year in the recent times, demanding that an urban primary health centre be established in their locality, for which some land of OU needed to be alienated. The executive council of Osmania University has not yet accorded permission for it.
There is also talk in the academic circles that the present state government has been contemplating acquiring 100 acres of land behind the Tagore Auditorium inside OU campus, to develop it as an IT Park. This was before the issue of the 400-acre land in Kancha Gachibowli happened few months ago.
Professor Manohar asserts that the mistakes made in the past cannot be taken as a precedent to repeat those wrongdoings again.
He questions why only Rs 1,000 per month was being taken as rent from Adi Dhwani Trust for the two professors’ quarters, while the lessee of the petrol bunk in Tarnaka was paying Rs 5 lakh per month, despite a legal dispute between the lessee and the university dangling in the courts for decades.
Professor Tirumala insists that Adi Dhwani Trust is a non-profit organisation which was only concerned with preserving and spreading the indigenous knowledge and culture for the young generation to learn from, and that was the reason why he felt the university’s campus was best suitable.
“The children are only getting exposed to anti-humanity and anti-culture activities these days. The tribal museum encompasses various fields of education including literature, sociology, religion and cultural studies, ethnic studies and more,” he notes.
Replying to why he has failed to begin the museum when he was allotted the land on lease in August 2023, he said that he has spent all his pension money on his organisation (Adi Dhwani Trust), and that nobody helped him financially until the HMDA offered to commission the renovation project. He said the structures were in total dilapidated condition when he leased them.
“Why didn’t they object to the renovation efforts three months ago? Why are they obstructing now,” asked Tirumala Rao, now in his mid-seventies.
According to D Satyanarayana, during the last 12 months, the state-run tribal museum located at Masab Tank ( Maa Saheb Tank) has seen 30,000 visitors. The fare to see the museum is Rs 10 per adult, and there is a concession for students/children.
Based on this, one can calculate how much a tribal museum proposed to be set up at Tarnaka inside the OU campus can fetch.
“The artefacts I have are priceless. But I want the students to know and learn from the indigenous ways of life, so that they don’t just vanish in the order of time,” Professor Tirumala Rao urges.
He assured that he has no issues with running the museum under the aegis of any of the university’s departments, and that he has already urged a department to be part of the museum and research centre’s development and academic committees as well,” he informed Siasat.com.
Osmania University has been known for organisations with opposing ideologies, which have been at loggerheads with each other. Whether it is among the students or the professors, the ideological divide has been there between the left and the right wings.
Though the proposal for setting up a tribal museum inside the campus is being dealt with in its legal terms, there are invisible ideological forces acting against the well-intended proposal.
Professor Tirumala Rao suspects that it is only because the tribal museum and the research centre would focus on the marginalised groups, that ABVP, and its parental organisations were acting on the off the scene, to prevent the initiative.
He told Siasat.com that he will give a befitting answer to those who were obstructing his lifelong efforts to preserve the tribal arts, culture, literature, folklore and fundamentals in the much-needed educational domain.
The irony is that former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC N Ramchander Rao grew up in one of these quarters where the tribal museum is being proposed. His father used to teach at the university, and Ramchander Rao’s office was also located in the same house in the initial years of his profession as an advocate, whose clients included people from both extremes of the ideological spectrum.
It needs to be seen whether, in his own words, “every court order has a legal remedy,” will also apply to the case of the tribal museum, the final decision in favour or against which would be taken in the next executive council’s meeting in the university.
