(This petition was sent to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, and the District Magistrate, Rampur.)

48 prominent academics and eminent citizens demand that the University be allowed to continue functioning in its present state so that the education of thousands of students is not compromised.

Rampur Development Authority (RDA) has issued a demolition notice pertaining to 38 out of the 40 buildings on the campus of the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, Rampur. The university is a private institution established in 2006 by the former Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan. It was granted university status by the UGC in 2012, and minority status in 2013. The university is currently fully functional, with over 3000 students on its rolls. The university campus has extensive educational, administrative, and recreational infrastructure including classrooms, labs, offices, and sports facilities, in active use by students and staff members.

The RDA served notice to the university administration earlier this month, after which a hearing was held to determine if the university had the required permissions for the constructions on its campus. Subsequently, the RDA declared 38 out of 40 buildings to be unauthorised, and ordered their demolition.

It simply beggars belief that the government intends to raze to the ground such a large, well-equipped and functional university, catering to thousands of students — that too in a region of the country where educational infrastructure is sorely lacking and access to quality higher education remains elusive for most.

If there are unauthorised constructions on the university campus, there are many ways the issue can be resolved without destroying valuable educational infrastructure and jeopardising the futures of thousands of students. Development authorities like the RDA routinely regularise unauthorised constructions through the imposition of fines and compounding fees. The rush to demolish clearly reflects the politically motivated nature of the whole process.

If there were such serious irregularities in the functioning of the university, how was it able to obtain recognition and university status in the first place? If this indicates the undue influence of the UP state government of the time over the UGC, should the priority not be to take measures to ensure the autonomy and transparency of regulatory bodies like the UGC?

We demand that the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University be allowed to continue functioning in its present state so that the education of thousands of students is not compromised due to political vindictiveness and ill-will.  

Signatories:

1. Rahul Varman, Professor, IIT Kanpur
2. Koel Das, Professor, IISER Kolkata
3. Dipankar, Chief Scientist, Treelabs / formerly faculty with IIT-Bombay, Treelabs Foundation,
4. Ghanshyam Shah, Retired Professor, Formerly with JNU, Delhi
5. Mazhar Husain, Neurosurgeon, Max Hospital
6. Amit Singh, Faculty, IIT Bombay
7. Sumeet Agarwal, Associate Professor, IIT Delhi
8. Prajval Shastri, retired professor, physicist
9. Shiva Shankar, Retired professor, Independent researcher
10. Debangshu Mukherjee, Postdoctoral Fellow, Pohang University of Science & Technology
11. Dr Prabir Chatterjee, Medical Officer, Amader Haspatal, Bankura
12. S. Subramanian, Retired professor, Independent Scholar (economist)
13. Usha Rani, Consultant , LEAP
14. Manali Chakrabarti, Independent Researcher
15. Deepak DSouza, Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
16. K V Subrahmanyam, Professor, Chennai Mathematical Institute
17. Harbans Mukhia, Former Professor and Rector, JNU ( Retired),
18. Sushmita, Professor, IMSc,
19. Saumya Chakrabarti, Professor of Economics, Visva-Bharati
20. pushpesh, Professor, University,
21. Dr. Suhas Kolhekar, Citizen
22. A Q Contractor, Professor (retired), IIT Bombay
23. Alok Laddha, Faculty, Chennai Mathematical Institute
24. Suchitra Mathur, Faculty, IIT Kanpur
25. Ram Puniyani, Professor, Former Professor, IIT Bombay,
26. ARUN KHOTE, Editor, Justice News
27. Suvrat Raju, Professor, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
28. BALBIR SINGH BUTOLA , Superannuated, Jawaharlal Nehru University (SA)
29. Chaman Lal, Self Researcher, Retd Professor JNU New Delhi
30. Arijit Bishnu, Professor, Indian Statistical Institute
31. pradip kumar datta, Retired Professor, Retired Professor, JNU
32. Sachendra Pratap Yadav, Doctoral student, BITS
33. Prajit Basu, Researcher, Independent
34. Suratno Basu, Assistant Professor, TCG, CREST
35. Bindhulakshmi Pattadath, Independent Researcher, Independent Academic
36. Jayati Ghosh, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
37. Mohammed Ahmed Khan, Head, Yuva shakti sangathan
38. Tanika Sarkar, Retired Professor, Retired professor. JNU
39. Peehu Pardeshi, Director, PEHEL Foundation
40. SIBAJI BANDYOPADHYAY, (Retd.) Professor of Cultural Studies , Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC), Kolkata
41. Venkatesh Athreya , Adjunct Faculty, Asian College of Journalism, Chennai
42. Kailash, Professor, University of Hyderabad
43. Saptarshi Paul, PhD Candidate, IIT Kanpur
44. Gaganjot, Researcher, IIT Kanpur Alumni
45. Arun Kumar, Retd Prof, Retd. Prof JNU
46. Kavita Vidrohi, Advocate and Activist, Kurukshetra
47. Irfan Qayoom, Post doc, University of Michigan
48. Prashant Kumar, Assistant Professor, GC Bherian Pehowa