Kolkata: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has been asked by the Visva Bharati University to vacate the 13 decimals of land which he has been accused of occupying in an unauthorised way.
The varsity in an eviction letter has asked the economist to vacate the land by May 6 or within 15 days of the publication of the last order on April 19.
As per the HT report they have seen the copy of the order which says, "There are directives/advisories from the Govt. of India/West Bengal, reports of the expert committees on security and maintenance of assets of Visva-Bharati, and the CAG’s audit observations regarding the necessity and urgency of removing unauthorized occupation or encroachment from the public premises of Visva-Bharati."
The notice further said Visva-Bharati owns plots on the west and east sides of the premises. “On the southern side, Sri Sen and his family own their private lands. Sri Sen could have participated in joint survey/hearing, etc and indicate his choice.”
"Amartya Kumar Sen and all concerned persons are liable to be evicted from the said premises, if need be, by use of such force as may be necessary." "It is decided that 13 decimals of land having the dimension of 50 ft x 111 ft in the north-west corner of the scheduled premises is to be recovered from him," the notice said.
"Thus he can lawfully occupy 1.25 acres of land only, as lesses (for the residual period of lease) in the scheduled premises. He does not have the authority to occupy 1.38 acres of land in the scheduled premises," the notice issued by Joint Registrar Asish Mahato said.
A few days back the Central university had issued another notice to Amartya Sen, whose ancestral house 'Pratichi' in Santiniketan is inhabited by the Nobel laureate during his stay in Santiniketan, giving him time till April 19 to respond to the missive and vacate the "unauthorised" portion of land or face necessary action otherwise.
The varsity had maintained that Amartya Sen's reply to earlier showcause was fallacious, factually incorrect and Visva Bharati was the rightful owner of all these lands which had been encroached upon in past years including the 13 decimal land occupied by the Nobel laureate.
Amartya Sen has repeatedly trashed the charge saying while the 1.25 acres of land had been leased by Visva Bharati to his father for a certain period the contentious 13 decimals were bought by his father and he has all the necessary documents to prove that.
(with PTI inputs)
