Owner locks up classrooms of school premises in Curchorem, cops called

MARGAO: Tension gripped Curchorem early Saturday morning after the owner of the building housing the old premises of The New Educational Institute, locked up all the classrooms.
The institute is one of the oldest English-medium high schools in the state.
Since regular classes have been shifted to the new premises a few years ago, there were no occupants in the building at the time of the incident. However, currently, music, computer classes and sports activities are conducted in the old premises, sources said.
The school is located on the upper floor of the two-storey building and the ground floor houses several shops.
The enraged school management filed a police complaint against intruders for trespassing on their premises. They alleged the intruders stole some music instruments as well as speakers from the classrooms.
A police team led by Curchorem PI Santosh Mahajik took stock of the situation at site. The school’s chairman Pradip Kakodkar questioned the right of the owner to lock the classrooms without serving a notice. He demanded that the police unlock the classrooms. Further, he warned of resorting to a sit-in protest, along with students, if police failed to do the needful.
Counsel for the building owner, Rajeev Gomes, who was also present at the site, told TOI that the management had refused to vacate the premises despite repeated persuasions by the owner over the last few years. “The owners had let out the building to the school. But now, since the school has been shifted and these premises are lying vacant, the school should have vacated it,” Gomes said. The building owner, it is learnt, has also sold a portion of the upper storey, but the buyers haven’t been able to take possession owing to the ongoing dispute between the owner and the management.
Kakodkar told TOI that the school has been functioning from the same rental premises for the last 80 years. “The action of the building owner of locking up the classrooms by bringing private security is malicious in intent and smacks of hooliganism. What prevented them from taking a legal approach to settle the issue?” he said.
As the stand-off between the two parties persisted, police told the building owner to unlock the classrooms and handed over the keys to the management as an interim arrangement.
A meeting between the two parties, along with the police, has now been convened by the Quepem mamlatdar on Monday to resolve the issue.
“There seems to be some internal problem. The assistant district education inspector is in touch with the aggrieved parties. We may give the students two to three days off till the matter is resolved,” director of education Nagraj Honnekeri said.