Visva Bharati University tells Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to vacate 13 decimals of land by May 6

KOLKATA: Visva Bharati Univeristy in an eviction order has asked Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to vacate the 13 decimals of land which he has been allegedly occupying in an unauthorised manner by May 6 or within 15 days of the publication of the last order on April 19.

Contending as per government of India advisories and CAG reports the century old Central institution was in urgent need of getting control of encroachments and also submit report to the ministry, the notice said "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."

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"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 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 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 Sen.

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.