UP: Jauhar University gets notice from forest dept for cutting 2,173 trees

Trouble seems to be mounting for SP Lok Sabha MP and Vice-Chancellor of Jauhar University, Azam Khan after the district forest officer sent a notice to the varsity on Monday regarding illegal cutting of thousands of trees.

The University got the notice for allegedly cutting 2,173 trees near the campus area while it had the responsibility to look after those trees.

"Jauhar University has the responsibility to maintain 2,173 Khair trees. During our inspection, we did not found those trees there. They have cut those trees. Suitable action will be taken against if we did not get any reply within 7 days," District Forest Officer AK Kashyap told reporters here.

Last month, police had carried out a raid at the premises of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University and recovered over 2,500 expensive books allegedly stolen from some other institutes.

Other than this, several complaints have also been lodged against the controversial Rampur lawmaker, who is the chancellor of the university, for alleged land grab to build the varsity.

At least 25 FIRs have been registered against Azam Khan in cases related to land grab.

On July 25, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) court, in its order, asked Azam Khan to demolish the gate of the university, built on the Public Works Department (PWD) land, within 15 days.

SDM Prem Prakash Tiwari also imposed a fine of Rs 3.2 crore on Khan.