The meeting was presided by Mr. M.A. Baby, Minister for Education and Culture and attended by Mr. K.P. Rajendran, Minister for Revenue, Government of Kerala to review the progress made in the acquisition of land to be provided to AMU for establishing a special centre at Malappuram.
Education Minister, Mr. Baby expressed happiness to have a part of AMU in Kerala. He informed that the Kerala State Government has made substantial progress in identifying the required land in Malappuram. He said that the Revenue Department is taking all necessary actions in this regard and has set up an additional Collectorate with 40 staff to expedite the process of land acquisition. He assured that funds will not be a problem in acquiring the land. Every step will be taken on a 'fast track' basis, he added.
The Education Minister urged the AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. P.K. Abdul Azis to go ahead with the technical assessment of the land and appointment of staff and calling for admission to various courses to be started simultaneously in order to make the Centre functional in the next academic session without waiting for formal transfer of land. He was confident of completing the major part of land acquisition in three to four months' time frame.
AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. P.K. Abdul Azis has thanked the ministers present and the Government of Kerala for the keen interest displayed by all the related government departments and the necessary steps taken in making the Centre a reality.
Prof. Azis emphasized that AMU should get encumbrance free land with a clearly demarcated boundary and it should be handed over to AMU within two or three months so that the process of necessary approvals in the University bodies as well as from the Ministry of Human Resource Development could be completed expeditiously.
The Vice Chancellor also urged to provide an unhindered two lane wide road so that the access to the campus could be ensured. He also requested the state government for extending electricity and water pipeline and promised that DPR (Detailed Project Report) will be prepared immediately by engaging a professional agency so that everything could happen in fast track manner.
Mr. Paloli Mohamed Kutty, Minister for Local Self Government has assured that the AMU will get the necessary land in time and that he has directed the officials of his department to speed up the process of land acquisition.
Other important government officials who participated in the review committee meeting included Mr. V. Sasi Kumar, Member of Legislative Assembly, Smt. Nivedita P. Haran, Principal Secretary, Revenue, Dr. S. Ravindran, Director, Survey of Land, K.S. Chandrashekhran, Additional Director of Survey and Land Acquisition, Subair Kutty, Joint Secretary, CLR, Smt. T. Meena Kumary, Deputy Commissioner (Land Acquisition), Mrs. Sushma, Joint Secretary, Revenue Department, Mr. Kuruvilla John, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Advocate Beeran Sahib, Member, AMU Court. Prof. Anwar Jahan Zuberi, Vice Chancellor, Calicut University also participated in the meeting. Prof. N.A.K. Durrani, Media Advisor, Aligarh Muslim University made a PowerPoint presentation briefly sketching the profile of AMU and the basic framework and the model to be set up at the special centre at Malappuram.
