Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University - Location and Campus Growth

Location and Campus Growth

This university was carved out of Gujarat University. On bifurcation, the North Gujarat University inherited no physical assets from its parent university.

Patan, a historical town in northern part of Gujarat, was officially designated as the headquarters of the university. The town happens to have composite campus of four affiliated colleges. The managing council of the colleges was kind enough to let the infant university rent its two hostel buildings to accommodate its offices. Thus the university began to operate and serve 41 colleges scattered over the three districts of Banaskantha, Mehsana and Sabarkantha.

With the two hostel buildings, the university rented Gandhi Memorial Hall to house its library. The aim was to start building a nucleus library for the future post-graduate departments. The university simultaneously moved the state government to acquire land measuring about 185 acres (0.75 km2) from farmers. It also requested the state government to transfer its seed farm land measuring about 35 acres (140,000 m2) to the university. However, this entailed considerable delay owing to litigation in the State High Court and then in the Supreme Court.

Following the Supreme Court judgment, acquisition of the land has been possible. As a result, over the years the university has been able to get land as follows:

• Government land 35.00 acres (141,600 m2)
• Land acquired from farmers 177.50 acres (0.7183 km2). The university will, in due course, acquire land measuring 7.50 acres (30,400 m2) from one farmer.

Total land available = 212.50 acres (0.8600 km2).

In addition to this, the university has received a property worth Rs.10 lakhs donated by the Gramodhyog Mandal, Patan. At present the university employment bureau is housed in that building. Proposals to the state government for further assistance in materializing plans for more constructions, in phased manner, are under active consideration.