The Calcutta High Court on May 4 gave an interim stay against a move by the Visva Bharati University to evict Amartya Sen from 13 decimal of land, which is part of the Nobel laureate’s ancestral house Pratichi at Santiniketan, in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
“Having heard the learned advocates, the learned District Judge, Birbhum is requested to hear the stay application on 10th May, 2023 at 2 P.M. and till then the order of Joint Registrar Visva Bharati & Estate Officer should not be enforced or till the date of disposal of the stay application, whichever is later,” Justice Bibhas Ranjan De said in the order.
Professor Sen, in the petition, had pointed out that Rabindranath Tagore had given 1.38 acre of land for a lease of 99 years to his father Ashutosh Sen in October 1943.
On April 19, the Visva Bharati University administration issued an order asking Amartya Sen to vacate the land within 15 days from the date. As per the order, the land is under the “illegal occupation” of the Nobel laureate.
The six-page notice also added that in the event of “refusal or failure to comply with this order within the period specified”, the case would be decided ex-parte. Prior to this on April 17, Professor Sen sent a letter to the University authorities that the land had been in possession of his family since 1943.
Protest stage erected
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also come out openly in support of Prof. Sen. Ms. Banerjee in January this year, met the economist at his Santiniketan residence and handed over the land documents to him.
The CM said that she would participate in the protest if the University tried to snatch away the piece of land. She had directed party leaders to protest against the University outside Amartya Sen’s house. The Trinamool Congress leadership had set up a protest stage outside the house of Prof. Sen.
In a related development, the Visva Bharati University officials have requested the local district administration to maintain peace within the campus. The University authorities said that they were checking any kind of violence.
