The high court on Wednesday directed the Patna district magistrate to submit a report on encroachment at Patna University.

District magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal has two weeks to submit the report with all the details. The state government had on the court's order formed a committee headed by Agarwal to go through all the minute details of encroachment at the university.

The court on Wednesday directed the district magistrate to inform it about how much encroachment has been removed from the campus and what's left. The reply sought by the court also includes the timeframe in which the remaining encroachment is supposed to be removed.

The division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay passed the order on a PIL (public interest litigation) filed by social activist Vikash Chandra, better known as Guddu Baba.

Chandra told the court that that there were altogether 275 encroachment on the university campus and premises of its constituent colleges.

Earlier, the court had directed the Patna district magistrate to constitute a committee for a spot verification of the entire campus; institute an inquiry on the encroachment, if any in the area; hear any encroacher if required; and submit a detailed report to the court indicating the nature of encroachment, the particulars of the encroachers and other factors involved.

While hearing the matter, the court had ruled that it was not difficult to imagine the nature of disturbance to the students and teachers from the unauthorised encroachers. The bench said: 'It was the responsibility of the state to ensure that public property, that too where the institutions of higher level are located, are protected from encroachment.'

It had then directed the state government to constitute a committee headed by the Patna district magistrate and comprising Patna University registrar G.K. Palei to inform the court on the status of the present encroachment at the university, its colleges, hostels and other land.

The committee is also due to apprise the court on why after so many directives from the court the encroachment had not been removed.