Families evicted from Vidyapith campus after 70 years, plaint filed

Ahmedabad: Three families residing on the Gujarat Vidyapith campus for the past 70 years were allegedly evicted and their belongings tossed out.
Nayan Rathod, the great-grandson of a former employee living on the university campus, filed a complaint with the Vadaj police in this regard.
Sources said that since a new board of trustees took charge at Vidyapith, there have been disputes on various matters.The new management had instructed the employees, known as ‘sevaks' living on the campus, to vacate their homes, and most of them have relocated elsewhere.
The complaint states, "We have been living on Vidyapith campus for the past 70 years. On Sep 23, acting registrar Nikhil Bhatt and estate department head Kamlesh Patel came and broke the locks of our house and disposed of our belongings."
Rathod said their grandfather was settled there by the former authorities of Vidyapith. A year ago, Vidyapith issued notices to other sevaks to vacate their homes. According to the complaint, the Rathods also received a notice, to which they responded through a lawyer and filed a writ in court.
Despite Vidyapith authorities, including vice-chancellor Harshad Patel, showing willingness to find a middle ground, the Rathods allegedly received successive notices. Before the court date, the locks of the closed house were broken, and the belongings disposed of. Some belongings were thrown out while some were stolen, stated the complaint.
Several calls made to VC Harshad Patel remained unanswered.