18,791 government schools in Karnataka have no land records

Though the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) has been running a ‘Government School and Educational Institutions Property Protection Campaign’ for the last three years to protect the properties of government schools, it has been found that 18,791 government schools across the State do not have any land records.

The government has now taken steps to bring “The Karnataka School Education Department Properties Protection Bill 2025, or The Karnataka Protection of Government School/Colleges Properties Bill” to register the properties of government schools in the name of the DSEL.

Responding to a question raised by expelled BJP member Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal in the recent session, School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa said the properties of 17,356 government primary schools and 1,435 high schools across the State were not registered in the name of the department and don’t have revenue documents. “Therefore, the proposal to enact a separate bill related to the registration of these properties is under review,” he said.

There are currently 48,436 government schools in the State, including 43,564 primary and 4,872 high schools. Most of these schools have been allotted land by the government, while many donors have donated land and sites to many schools.

However, out of these, a total of 18,791 government school lands and sites have not been registered in the name of the DSEL and do not have any other revenue records, including khata extracts. As a result, many school lands have been encroached upon and cases have also been registered in the court. In addition, it has also become difficult to undertake school development work, including building construction, without the necessary documents.

The DSEL has been conducting government School and Educational Institutions Property Protection Campaign every year since 2022-23.

The Deputy Commissioners had been instructed to collect the land records of the respective government schools and register them in the name of the school, and if the said lands were encroached upon, they should have the lands surveyed by the authority concerned and remove the encroachment.

Only 28,776 schools have records

However, so far only 25,339 primary and 3,437 high schools have been registered in the name of the DSEL.

Shivamogga, the in charge district of Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa, has the highest number of pending registration of government school properties, with 1,192 schools, followed by 1,124 in Mandya, 1,063 schools in Tumakuru, 958 in Kalaburagi, and 877 in Bengaluru South (earlier Ramanagara) district.

Umesh G. Gangavadi, State president of School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC), said, “Most of the properties of government schools have been encroached upon due to the neglect of previous governments. Many cases are pending in court. A few years ago, there was an incident in Kolar where some private individuals took possession of a government school and demolished it on the orders of the court. If there are no records for the properties, it is also difficult to carry out development work in such schools. The government should complete the pending property registration of government schools on a war footing. A request will be made to the Chief Minister in this regard.”