Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP/JS)

Mangaluru, Mar 28: Questions have arisen about the survival of government school at Babbukatte, which is providing education to the people of the area since the last 40 years. The school, which has imparted education to thousands of people during these years, has been served with legal notice by a family to vacate the place within two months.

The government primary and high school at Babbukatte had begun to serve the people of this rural area in 1976. The school was started in 44 cents of land donated to the school by a local named Ramesh Kotian. In this land, primary school was started in 1976, and high school section was added in 1980. It is said that the failure of successive officials to get the land transferred in the name of the school is the root cause for the current crisis-like situation.

Ramesh Kotian is no more. His children, Deepak and his sister, are seeking the school to vacate the land. The teachers and villagers alike are taken unawares by this sudden development, and have requested the government to take steps to see that the institution continues to serve the locals.

The department of education, on its part, also failed to pursue the matter of getting the land transferred in its name. Other than sending a letter to the tahsildar in 2013 to transfer this land to the school, the department did not do anything, it is gathered. The then zilla panchayat vice president, Satish Kumpala, had held talks with the land donor's family and the education department on this issue in the presence of Deepak and his wife, Ramya. Reportedly, a decision to install the stone bust of Ramesh Kotian at the land, and to appoint representatives of land donors as ex-officio member, had been taken during this meeting. The family had agreed to transfer the land in the name of the government subject to adhering to these conditions. It is said that the fact that the land value in the area has multiplied manifold in the recent past has encouraged the family to serve legal notice to the school in a bid to wrest the land back. The education department says it is determined to fight back this effort.

School development and monitoring committee member, Chandra, expresses surprise about the fact that Deepak, who has served vacation notice along with his sister, is trying to evict an institution of which he is a past student.

Block education officer, Jnanesh, confesses that the department does not have records to prove that the land belongs to the government, and that RTC also mentions Ramesh Kotian as its owner. He said that state health minister, U T Khader, who is the MLA representing this constituency, has been approached. He confessed that the teachers are surprised that an old student of this very school wants the school to be vacated from the land. He said that everyone wants the school to survive this crisis and continue to serve people.

What family says

Speaking to daijiworld, the late Ramesh Kotian's son Deepak said that the family was unaware that the land had been donated to the school. "My father had never said that he had donated this land to the school. None of us knew about it. After my father passed away about 12 years ago, the school authorities claimed that it had documents to prove that the land had been donated by my father. We believed them and did not enquire much.

"However, now it has transpired that the school has no documents at all to prove its claim on the land. If the land had really been donated, they should have supporting documents," he added.

"We studied in the same school but we were not given any concession. Our family has never been called for any school programme either, the way donors are invited in other schools. Just recently the headmistress had called us for a meeting, but that was the only meeting we ever had. There have been no talks. It is for our mother and us four siblings to decide and we will fight this case legally in court," Deepak said.