Lovely Professional University (LPU) owned by Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal is in for more trouble as Nanak Nagari Panchayat in Kapurthala district has passed a resolution to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court this month challenging the transfer of its over 5 acres of costly land to the university for peanuts by falsely showing it as barren.

Ram Lubhaya, sarpanch of the village claimed that in 2010 the then joint panchayat of Chehru village of which Nanak Nagari village was a part, had agreed to exchange a total of over 13 acres of its land, falsely showing it as barren, with another chunk of 13 acres of inferior land offered by the university on the banks of a seasonal rivulet, Beyai.

According to an estimate, the value of panchayat land taken by LPU could be somewhere around Rs 4 to 5 crores per acre. But the land given in exchange to the two villages on the banks of the rivulet was priced at not more than Rs 50 lakhs per acre.

The sarpanch alleges that the then panchayat members and revenue officials of Chehru village connived to mention in documents that the land in question had no connectivity to reach it besides no irrigation facilities. As a result, the exchange offer was accepted because the panchayat would get better land with irrigation facilities and connectivity.

In 2013 Chehru village panchayat was split into two. Nanak Nagari village was recognised as a separate village. Out of a total of over 13 acres of joint panchayat land, around 5 acres came as a share to Nanak Nagari village.

The bifurcated panchayat of Nanak Nagari challenged the land exchange agreement with the university in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. But before the High Court could decide the matter on merits, the then sarpanch Parshotam Kumar who was facing suspension, unilaterally withdrew the case thereby helping the university allegedly with an ulterior motive.

The present panchayat now demands that either the university return its land or buy another chunk for it near the village matching the value of the panchayat land given to the university in exchange for an inferior piece.

Ex-sarpanch Parshotam Kumar when contacted denied hanky-panky in withdrawing the case against LPU from the High Court. "I was placed under suspension at the behest of some 'panches' which was sufficient reason for me to backtrack and withdraw the case," he said.

Sarwan Singh Deo, newly elected sarpanch of Chehru village told India Narrative that the then Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala while dividing over 13 acres of panchayat land, ordered that Nanak Nagari village would be entitled to get the annual lease money of this agricultural land. "It is only recently that I paid over Rs 8 lakh to Nanak Nagari panchayat from the accounts of Chehru village panchayat as its share," he discloses.

Sarpanch Deo said that his village would not demand the return of the land as it had previously passed unanimous resolutions accepting the exchange offer of the LPU. He refused to comment on the allegations of Ram Lubhaya, sarpanch of Nanak Nagari that the previous joint panchayat of the two villages which accepted the exchange offer of the university had been bribed by LPU.

District Development and Panchayats Officer (DDPO), Kapurthala refused to comment on the matter.

Efforts to elicit a response from the LPU went futile as Vice-Chancellor Aman Mittal did not pick up phone calls.