Why demolition sword hangs over Jauhar University run by Azam Khan family-led trust?

Jailed Rampur heavyweight Azam Khan's dream project faces an existential crisis. Under threat are not just 38 campus buildings but the future of 3,000 studentsAround 12 km from Rampur railway station in Uttar Pradesh, the road leading to Singankheda village has become a site of protest rather than just a route to a university. At the main gate of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University—once envisioned as a hub of modern education in western Uttar Pradesh—hundreds of students have been in dharna mode to save their educational future. Their demand: the Rampur Development Authority (RDA) withdraw the order to demolish 38 of the 40 buildings on the campus.Interim relief for the university has come from Moradabad divisional commissioner Anjaneya Kumar Singh, who on July 26 stayed till further orders the RDA’s July 15 demolition order. Singh is also the RDA chairman.The interventionist appeal to Singh’s office had been made by the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, which manages the university. The trust is chaired by Nikhat Aflak, the sister of Samajwadi Party (SP) veteran and jailed former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan.Khan is a former chairperson of the trust. Mohammad Adeeb Azam, Khan's elder son, is the trust's secretary while Khan’s wife Dr Tazeen Fatma is one of the trustees. The university itself is named after Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, who served as director of education in the erstwhile princely state of Rampur. The demolition sword has rattled the university administration and students alike. Iqra, a 23-year-old final-year law student, rushed back from her hometown in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh when she got to know that most of the university's buildings faced bulldozers. “Our careers and futures are at stake,” says Iqra. “We went on a sit-in protest because we want the government authorities to reconsider their decision. If forced to move to some other distant college, we may not be able to continue our studies.”Another student Akshir Ahmed links the protests to social welfare. “Our university offers fee waivers to students from poor and Dalit backgrounds. Students who have lost their parents receive special concessions too. If the university shuts down, it is these very students who will suffer the most,” says Ahmed. With the demolition stayed for now, the students called off their protest on July 28.The demolition controversy erupted after Rampur district magistrate and RDA vice-chairman Ajay Kumar Dwivedi declared 38 university buildings illegal and ordered their removal within 20 days. According to the district administration, a probe into the campus constructions led to the notice being issued to the university management.The university filed its written reply on July 8 and a personal hearing was also held on July 15. The management argued that the entire campus was built on the land of revenue village Sengankheda, which was outside RDA limits till September 27, 2024. Therefore, at the time of the construction, there was no legal obligation to get the construction plan approved by the RDA.The RDA dismissed the argument, pointing out that if the map of the medical building and academic block of the university had been approved by the district panchayat, why the same process was not followed for the remaining 38 buildings. The RDA maintained that the 38 buildings were constructed without permission and passed orders for their demolition under the Uttar Pradesh Town Planning and Development Act, 1973.Asim Raza, the SP’s Rampur City president, calls the administration's action legally untenable. “Singankheda village was included in RDA limits on September 27, 2024. The RDA has issued the demolition notice by exceeding its jurisdiction,” he says.Not just the demolition threat, in the past one month, pressures on the university and the trust have come from various government agencies. On July 17, the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam issued a notice to the registrar of the university that despite being a private institution, the university had been using the facilities of a sewerage treatment plant since December 2019 without paying the user charges. The dues were pegged by the nigam at Rs 11.37 crore. Around the same time, the fire department stated it had found safety violations in 22 buildings on the campus.Prior to these actions, a crippling blow had come on June 23 when the income tax department revoked the charitable tag of the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust. The action was based, among other things, on a report that questioned the basis on which government resources and budgets had been used in the university project during the time Khan was urban development minister of Uttar Pradesh and chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam.Virendra Goyal, a close associate of Khan and a former district president of the SP, dismisses the allegations, saying: “The corruption allegations against Azam Khan are baseless. This is political vendetta.”Amidst the administrative actions and legal battles, the future of some 3,000 students is in peril. The Rampur district administration has initiated a process to facilitate the admission of these students into other institutions by setting up a counselling camp at the main gate of Jauhar University.Dr Jagriti Madan Dhingra, principal of the Government Raza Post Graduate College in Rampur and in-charge of its counselling centre, says courses such as BA, BSc, BCA, BBA, MBA and law were also available at the Guru Jambheshwar University in Moradabad, and a process would be initiated to accommodate Jauhar University students there or in affiliated colleges.The relocation offer so far has few takers at Jauhar University. Dr Tazeen Fatma alleges the entire exercise was an attempt to weaken Jauhar University and boost student enrolment at other institutions. “The administration's move is not aimed at securing students’ future but sending them to poorly managed colleges affiliated with the Guru Jambheshwar University. No student wishes to leave Jauhar University's high-quality courses to move to another institution,” she says.The Jauhar University issue has been acquiring political colour. Congress state chief Ajay Rai has described the demolition notice as politically motivated. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has announced support for the agitating students and questioned the demolition order.The legal battle of the university comes at a time when Khan himself is mired in cases. On July 18, he got mixed relief from the courts in two cases related to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Khan and his other son Abdullah Azam are lodged in Rampur jail following to their convictions in two PAN card-related cases and are ineligible to contest elections. Yet, if the Jauhar University row deepens, it could well create a wave of sympathy for the Khan family in the 2027 assembly polls.As Abdul Aziz, a former professor of MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, puts it: “Azam Khan's influence in Rampur politics is far from over. The district has about 46 per cent Hindu and 51 per cent Muslim population. Khan's influence in the Muslim-majority seats has been decisive for a long time. The assembly seats of Rampur, Rampur Sadar, Chamraua and Swar are still considered to be under his influence. He himself has been MLA from Rampur Sadar 10 times and MP once.”Subscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsPublished By: Shyam BalasubramanianPublished On: Jul 29, 2026 20:11 IST