Block Education Officer Shivaraj has issued notices to 13 people who have encroached upon one acre of land belonging to the government higher primary school in Sokke village near Ajjampur.
He has asked the encroachers to clear the illegal establishments within five days.
The land falling under survey number 3 in Sokke belongs to the government school. But, some people had set up illegal establishments on the land and later approached the court when the concerned department tried to acquire the land for the school playground.
However, the court rejected the plea by the encroachers, stating that the land belongs to the school.
Following the same, the BEO has now issued notices to the encroachers directing them to clear the illegal buildings, hotel and shops within five days of receiving the notice. If the illegal structures are not cleared, the Education Department will itself clear the buildings and the expenses incurred for the same will be recovered from the encroachers, the notice said.
The land was initially owned by Ranganatha Swamy Temple Trust in the village. Out of six acres of land, the trust had donated one acre of land to the government school in 1967-68, for the playground.
As the strength of the children was low, the school had not been using the land. Taking a cue, encroachers took over the land by putting up houses, hotels and sheds.
The government primary school in Sokke was established on March 12, 1946, by the then Minister of the Mysore Government, L Siddappa.
Official records confirm the inauguration of the school building by former Chief Minister K Changalaraya Reddy in 1950.
The villagers submitted a complaint on the encroachment of land to the then Upa Lokayukta Subhash B Adi during his visit to Ajjampura in 2013. The Upa Lokayukta had directed the DDPI and the BEO to recover the land by clearing encroachments. Accordingly, when the department concerned took necessary steps, the encroachers filed a case in court.
School Development and Monitoring Committee former president Prakash said that he and the then BEO Parameshwarappa were the opponents in the court.
The case came before the special court in Bengaluru, which disposed the case by rejecting the plea by the applicants. The court order has favoured the school.
Currently, there are 229 students in the primary school, out of which 55 children are in LKG and UKG. The school has got seven teaching staff.
Children from Sokke and neighbouring villages study in the school and there was a need for a playground for the students. The one acre of land should be developed into a playground for sports activities, said School Headmistress Vasanta Kumari.
SDMC President Chidanand requested the department concerned to hand over the encroached land to the school. The school also needs toilets and better drinking water facilities, he added.