Amartya Sen's land issue with Visva-Bharati lingers on after advocates' intense argument

Amartya Sen's lawyer had applied to the Bolpur Land and Land Reforms Department for complete land mutation. A prolonged question-and-answer session was held at the department. But, the issue remained unresolved. The next hearing date has not been fixed.

Bolpur: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's land issue remained unresolved even after the prolonged question-and-answer session at the Bolpur Land and Land Reforms Department recently. Amartya Sen's advocate Gorachand Chakraborty submitted a will of the late Ashutosh Sen. On the other hand, Visva-Bharati University advocate Sucharita Biswas alleged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of politicising the land issue with documents in her possession. She appealed for further hearing to resolve the land dispute.

Notably, the Visva-Bharati authorities alleged that the Nobel laureate of occupying 13 decimals of additional land and sent three letters to the economist asking him to return the land held by him 'illegally'. Vice-Chancellor of Visva-Bharati University Bidyut Chakraborty also launched scathing attacks on Sen several times. This created a huge controversy following which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI-M stood by Sen.

Meanwhile, Amartya Sen has repeatedly claimed that the land belonged to him. His lawyer even sent a notice asking the Visva-Bharati authorities to apologise for their verbal attacks. It may be mentioned that Visva Bharati claimed that Sen owns 1.25 decimals of land while Sen's advocate Gorachand Chakraborty claimed that the economist's father Ashutosh Sen had 1.38 decimals of land registered against his name. So, Sen's advocate applied to the Bolpur Land and Land Reforms Department for complete land mutation.

Under the supervision of the Bolpur Land and Land Reforms Officer Sanjay Das, Sen's advocate and Visva-Bharati's advocate, Visva-Bharati acting secretary Ashok Mahat attended the hearing pertaining to the disputed land. In the hearing, the advocates of both sides argued for a long time. It is learnt that Amartya Sen's lawyer submitted a will of the late Ashutosh Sen to the Land and Land Reforms Officer. The argument was that Ashutosh Sen's land should be mutated in the name of his son Amartya Sen. In response, Visva-Bharati's advocate submitted all the documents related to the 'disputed' land.

Sen's lawyer Gorachand Chakraborty said, "We have submitted a will of the late Ashutosh Sen to prove inheritance. The question of possessing extra land does not arise. Such an allegation is unfortunate. Today, Visva-Bharati's advocate tried to prove possession of the extra land by citing various documents and incorrect arguments. The date of the next hearing has not been fixed yet.”

Visva-Bharati's adcvocate Sucharita Biswas said, "The Chief Minister is politicising the whole issue. Visva Bharati's land cannot be occupied like this. 1.25 decimals of land belongs to Amartya Sen. The rest has been occupied." Visva-Bharati acting secretary Ashok Mahat said, "We said what we had to. Our advocate will say more in this regard."