Visva Bharati sends eviction notice to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen

News Desk :
West Bengal’s Visva Bharati University authorities on Sunday served a notice to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen asking him or any of his representatives to be present at the university’s Santiniketan office on March 29 with all documents related to his land where Sen’s ancestral home is located.
The university issued a notice to Sen, asking him to show-cause why an eviction order should not be issued against him for not vacating a portion of land on the campus that he is allegedly illegally occupying, Indian media reported.
“Pratichi,” Sen’s home, stands on the sprawling campus at Bolpur in the state’s Birbhum district.
“In case you and your authorised representative fail to appear on the said date, the case may be decided ex-parte,” the notice said.
Since 2022, Visva Bharati’s Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty has been claiming that Sen is in possession of 1.38 acres of land on the Santiniketan campus.
Chakrabarty claimed that Sen’s father Ashutosh – who was a professor at Visva Bharati – had rented only 1.25 acres of land on a 99-year lease in 1943 and thus, the remaining 0.13 decimal should be returned to the university.
However, the survey could not be conducted as there was no response from Sen.
On January 30, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Sen and handed over land-related documents to him corroborating his claim that he was the rightful lessee of 1.38 acres of land.
Mamata also attacked the vice-chancellor over the matter.
“No man in the garb of the BJP should insult Amartya Sen. We look at Visva Bharati through the eyes of Tagore, not through a saffron lens,” she said, without naming Chakrabarty.