New Delhi, March 26: Aligarh Muslim University’s (AMU) proposed campus in Murshidabad is set to start classes from this year itself because of concerted pressure from finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, despite reservations within sections of the government.

The human resource development ministry (HRD) has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to release funds for starting the Murshidabad campus in this academic session despite concerns over inadequate preparation, officials told The Telegraph.

The concerns stem principally from a silent political tussle between the Centre and the Bengal government over the transfer of land identified for the campus, sources said.

The land — 350 acres within the Farakka barrage region — belongs to the Centre. The country’s land laws, however, lay down a complex procedure — the state government has to procure the land and then transfer it back to the HRD ministry which, in turn, will have to transfer the land to AMU.

The state government, sources in Delhi said, had obtained the plot but the process of transfer of the land to the HRD ministry was not yet complete.

“Normally, in situations when we have reservations about preparedness, we exercise caution,” a senior official said.

But Mukherjee, who announced AMU centres for Murshidabad and Kerala’s Malappuram in his 2009 budget speech, has repeatedly asked the HRD ministry to expedite the Murshidabad centre.

Late last month, AMU vice-chancellor P.K. Abdul Azis and other varsity officials met Mukherjee seeking his intervention in speeding up the start of the Murshidabad campus.

Mukherjee has asked the HRD ministry to release before the end of this financial year the Rs 25 crore he had allocated for the Murshidabad campus in the 2009 budget.

The HRD ministry is desperate to keep Mukherjee in good humour at a time it needs all the funds it can get for myriad new projects, either started or in the pipeline.

“Had it been any other minister, we could have tried to reason that waiting might be better. But because it is Pranabda’s request, we cannot even think of stalling the plan,” a source said.

While Mukherjee’s requests pertain particularly to Murshidabad, the AMU’s Malappuram plans have also received push thanks to his intervention.

The HRD ministry is also asking the UGC to release funds allocated for the Malappuram campus as it cannot discriminate against the Kerala centre.