Srinagar: The Ladakh administration defended its recent cancellation of a 40-year land lease allotted to Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sonam Wangchuk’s Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL) in Leh, citing failure to execute a formal lease agreement and lack of progress on the project. However, official documents and statements from the management of HIAL reveal that the administration caused the delay on grounds of an unprepared lease policy – referred to as the ‘New Lease Policy’ in official communications – despite multiple requests from the institute to execute the deed.Wangchuk has alleged that the newly-appointed lieutenant governor and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kavinder Gupta is bent on “spreading fear” and “creating an atmosphere of dread” in Ladakh since assuming charge. Gupta, a former J&K assembly speaker, was sworn in as the third LG of Ladakh on July 18 this year.The Ladakhi activist claimed that there were rumours of the government planning to book him under sedition charges. “It seems that some companies are accorded the status of a country and if you speak against them, it becomes an act of sedition,” he said, referring to his advocacy for the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary where a 13-gigawatt solar energy project is set to come up despite objections by environmentalists and resistance by its tribal inhabitants.Gitanjali Angmo, Wangchuk’s wife and co-founder of HIAL, alleged that a senior minister in the BJP-led Union government had warned her last year in a meeting that the land lease agreement was going to remain in freeze unless her husband gave up his activism for Sixth Schedule for Ladakh. Roots of the controversyThe controversy stems from the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council’s (LAHDC) decision to lease out a land parcel measuring over 1,000 kanals to HIAL for establishing an innovative university focused on sustainable Himalayan development. The file was prepared by the BJP-led LADHC council. After it made its way through the maze of bureaucracy in Jammu and Kashmir, a state in the Union of India at that time, the government approved the land transfer in an order passed on January 5, 2018. The cancellation order, issued on August 21 by deputy commissioner (DC) Leh Romil Singh Donk “with the approval of the competent authority” states that the allotment lapsed in May 2019 due to non-compliance with “conditions requiring lease execution within a year”. The deputy commissioner’s order references Rule 4 of the original allotment order, which mandated the execution of the lease deed within one year from the issuance date, stating that failure to comply would result in the allotment being “deemed cancelled.” Timeline of eventsHowever, official documents reveal that Angmo, founding member of the HIAL, had written to the deputy commissioner of Leh on May 20, 2018 – a few months after the allotment was approved – with a request to “execute the lease deed in favour of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh at the earliest”.At the time, the demand to separate Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir had begun to gain ground, and Wangchuk was one of the proponents of Union Territory status for the region.In response to Angmo’s letter, the assistant commissioner revenue (ACR) in Leh deputy commissioner’s office wrote to the HIAL management on 14 March, 2020 saying that the “execution of [the] Lease Deed is under process and it will be completed at the earliest as soon as the New Lease Policy is finalised by LAHDC, Leh”.When Wangchuk raised the issue of the delay in the execution of the agreement with the Leh administration again, arguing that it was hampering the development of physical infrastructure for the university, he was informed in a letter by the ACR that the issue was “under process as we are awaiting the New Lease Policy to be finalised”.ACR’s letter to Wangchuk on February 19 states: “The delay is across board for all institutions including several government institutions, however you may continue the construction activities of your institution on the allotted land.”In its cancellation order this month, the Ladakh administration has now alleged that the land “has not been used for the purpose for which it was allotted as no University (as recognised by law) has been set up” and “no lease agreement has been executed” till date. However, Wangchuk and Ladakh’s civil society have called the move a ‘witch-hunt’, alleging that the move is linked to Wangchuk’s participation in the ongoing protests demanding Sixth Schedule status for the region, statehood, protections for locals and Ladakh’s fragile ecology. Wangchuk takes to XOn Sunday (August 24), Wangchuk addressed the controversy over the land allotment in a video on X, formerly Twitter. The video opens with Wangchuk’s voiceover, accompanied by visuals showcasing purported supporters and admirers passionately seeking Padma Shri and Bharat Ratna awards for the Ladakhi activist.“See your dream has come true and this is my Padma Shri,” he says, pointing to the land lease cancellation order. Angmo while speaking to the media said that the administration had raked up “baseless accusations” for cancelling the land lease order which could be “proved by data, facts and evidence”.“In the last five years, more than 400 students have passed out in the convocation. On March 15, 2023, we met Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and he even proudly tweeted about the meeting,”Angmo said. Pradhan’s post after the meeting in New Delhi reads: “Wonderful conversation with Shri @Wangchuk66 and his wife Gitanjali J Angmo ji. Appreciate their passion, thoughts and drive for transforming education, encouraging experiential learning, developing culture of innovation and sustainable development.”Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s post congratulating Wangchuk on X.Angmo said that when she met Pradhan again on November 4, 2024, “without mincing any words, he said that you are from Orissa and we are very proud. But he said that Geetanjali (her first name), HIAL and Sonam Wangchuk are all the same and till Sonam Wangchuk fights for Sixth Schedule, your file will remain on hold,” she said. After the land allotment’s cancellation, Wangchuk and his wife are planning to move the court for justice. Addressing a press conference in reaction to Wangchuk and Angmo’s allegations, Ladakh chief secretary Pawan Kotwal said that the lease agreement was cancelled because it didn’t fulfil the objectives spelled out in the land lease order. “It is a unique case where the lease was cancelled only due to non-utilisation for the proposed university,” he said. Kargil-based activist Sajjad Hussain said that the government had promised that the change of Ladakh’s status from a state into a Union Territory would bring prosperity and development, “The objective of making Ladakh a UT has also not been fulfilled. Doesn’t it mean that the UT status should also be scrapped,” he said, while demanding rollback of the order.