Allahabad HC holds special sitting, grants interim protection for girls' school on disputed land

Lucknow, Jul 13 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench held a special sitting on a court holiday to hear an urgent plea filed by a nearly 150-year-old Methodist Mission Girls Junior High School over a land dispute and granted the institution interim protection from demolition till July 20. A bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai on Sunday directed the state government not to alter the nature of the disputed land and ordered all the parties to maintain the status quo until the next hearing. The court also directed that the matter be listed among the top 10 cases on July 20. The petitioners pleaded that the school has been functioning on a disputed land in Sitapur for nearly 150 years but faces an imminent threat of demolition, making an urgent hearing necessary even on a court holiday. The petition also concerns a church situated on the premises. According to the petition, 3.562 hectares of land in Chhawani Kadim village, Khairabad Pargana, Sitapur, was wrongly recorded as nazul land in government records. The petitioners contended that the property had been purchased by their predecessors in 1862 and that the school and church have been functioning there ever since. The state government, however, informed the court that the Sitapur District Magistrate's order of June 24, 2026, did not affect the portions where the school and church are situated. It submitted that the demolition drive was confined to other portions alleged to be under encroachment. The state government further told the court that after demolition proceedings carried out on July 10, 2026, possession of a part of the disputed land had been handed over to the Sitapur Municipal Council. After hearing both sides, the high court passed an interim order directing that the existing status of the disputed property be maintained and that no further change be made to its nature until the next date of hearing. PTI COR ABN RUK RUK