Land plots belonging to schools illegally seized in 467 cases

The PA head, Sardor Umrzakov, spoke about the sold properties of schools in the videoconference meeting held on November 1 last year.

Umrzakov said that in 198 cases, lands of the schools were either confiscated by governors, or taken arbitrarily. At that time, the head of the administration entrusted the prosecutor’s office with the task of submitting applications to the court for the return of land.

“More than 25 hectares in Andijan region, 7.6 hectares in Samarkand, and more than 7 hectares in Kashkadarya were transferred to others by the decision of the governors without agreement with the Minister of Public Education. Land plots in the centers were fraudulently given to others,” Sardor Umrzakov said then.

Half a year later, Kun.uz appealed to the PGO and the Ministry of Preschool and School Education regarding the implementation of this task.

We have not yet received an answer from the PGO press service regarding our inquiry. According to the ministerial press service, in order to ensure the execution of the task, officials of the Accounts Chamber, the PGO, the Cadastre Agency and the Ministry of Public Education at that time conducted on-site studies.

During 2018-2021, it was found that in 467 cases, territories belonging to general education institutions were illegally seized. In 423 cases, 78.1 hectares of land area was occupied by individuals and legal entities, in 44 cases, 14.8 hectares of land area was reserved for the local administration.

It was reported that 93.6 hectares of land plot in 277 general education and non-school educational institutions across the republic were appropriated based on the decisions of citizens and local administrations.

According to the Ministry of Preschool and School Education, 246 cases of property return to school balance sheets have been filed in civil and administrative courts, and legal proceedings are ongoing today.

27 objects were fully returned to the balance of schools. 67 (27 mahalla buildings and 40 state pre-school educational institutions) facilities of state organizations have been started to be used on the basis of zero rent conditions.

In 12 cases, documents are being prepared for submitting claims to the courts, in 3 cases, the investigation process is underway to identify illegal cases.

Disciplinary measures were applied to 12 school principals and 14 district public education department heads who agreed to transfer the land to the administrational reserve.

Currently, district (city) pre-school and school education departments are in the process of submitting a lawsuit to the courts to eliminate 110 cases.

“In illegal cases, the work of returning the properties to the balance of schools is being continued,” a Kun.uz source said.

It should be recalled that according to the presidential decision of September 2018, it is forbidden to alienate the land plots and real estate of general education and non-school institutions without agreement with the Minister of Public Education.

In this decision, it is also determined that state bodies should not be allowed to interfere in the activities of public education institutions.

Nevertheless, in last year’s videoconference meeting of Sardor Umrzakov, the Minister of Public Education at that time Bakhtiyor Saidov said that although there are 6.4 million students in the republic, there is room for 5.2 million students in schools, and it is necessary to create 200 thousand seats on average every year.