Chennai's Patrician College coerces Students to protest, after the allegation of ₹1,000 crore worth Land Grab

The private college in Adyar, Chennai, is said to have illegaly occupied a 5.20 acre of land belonging to the Chennai Corporation. Following the court order, the Corporation employees went to acquire the land. As the College students and teachers protested, there was a commotion in the area as reported by the Tamil news channel, Thanthi TV.

The Patrician College of Arts and Sciences was established in 2001 in Adyar Gandhi Nagar on behalf of St. Patrick's Educational Group, a Christian self-funded educational group that runs schools across India. The college is accused of encroaching on land worth ₹ 1,000 crore owned by the Corporation of Chennai.

The college management refused to give the land claiming that the land is now being used as a playground.

In this case, the court is said to have ordered the acquisition of the occupied land. Following this, officials led by Municipal Commissioner Prakash went to the college on Saturday to acquire back the grabbed land.

The college administration, which understood the presence of the authorities, influenced its students and made them to gather and protest against the reclamation of the land, reports Polimer News.

In the wake of the students' protest, large numbers of police were mobilized. Later in the evening, the corporation authorities went inside the college and recovered five and a half acres of land owned by the corporation. They are also setting up barricades to prevent anyone from occupying them again.

The legal reclamation of ₹ 1,000 crore worth of corporation land, which has been in the custody of private owners for nearly 19 years, has frightened other occupants.