Cuttack, March 3: The state government has finally decided not to shift Ravenshaw Junior College to a permanent place outside the university campus.

The junior college will continue to function from the Ravenshaw University campus but on a separate land earmarked for the purpose.

The government has decided that 'the academic building and girls' hostel of Ravenshaw Junior College will be constructed on 2.272 acre, which belongs to the Ravenshaw University, near East Hostel'.

A communication regarding this was issued on February 27 by the higher education department to the junior college authorities and the Cuttack collector. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of chief secretary.

The junior college with around 2,000 students has been functioning from the campus of the Ravenshaw University.

Its relocation had become inevitable as the students attend their classes in various departments, use laboratories and other facilities of the university. Most of the classrooms of the varsity are occupied by students of the junior college from 7am to noon. They also use the laboratories till 1 pm. Consequently, there is a shortage of classrooms. Classes of the junior college also have to be suspended during examinations of the university. These were causing a lot of problems.

Earlier, the government had taken a decision to shift the college to the available land of the university near the Malgodown area. Later, when a PIL was filed in the Orissa High Court that raised objection against shifting of the college to the busy Malgodown area beside a busy road near the Taladanda canal, the government opted to relocate it on a 3.30 acre in Jobra. Taking note of it on January 7, the high court before passing any order on the PIL expected the state government to take a final decision.

'As both the land at Jobra and Malgodown are not suitable for the junior college, the government has decided to come up with a permanent campus (academic building and girls' hostel) on the university land where the NCC office has been functioning,' Rita Das, principal of Ravenshaw junior college, told The Telegraph .

The NCC office will be shifted after a new place is found. 'The government, however, has agreed to construct the boys' hostel of Ravenshaw college at Jobra,' Das said.

As per the decision taken at the high level meeting, the district administration will clear the encroachments from the 3.30 acre land in Jobra and hand it over to the public works department after the government approves.

'The process of clearing the encroachments will be undertaken,' Cuttack collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra told The Telegraph .

The government has further decided to allot 10 per cent of the multi-storey faculty residential apartment of the university to the principal and faculty members of the college. The apartment is supposed to be constructed inside the university campus.