Bolpur: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Tuesday wrote to Visva-Bharati authorities that law does not permit them to go ahead with the eviction as land cannot be claimed before expiry of lease term. His letter came a day before the university is expected to take a final decision on the disputed land on April 19.
In his letter to Visva-Bharati, Sen wrote: "I have seen a statement that Visva Bharati owns some land at my ancestral house in Santiniketan where we live since 1943. I am the holder of the land and its character has remained the same for over 80 years. No one can claim the land before its lease period expires," he wrote. The economist also reminded the university authorities that the magistrate had directed that there should not be any law and order problem in the area. Sen, who is currently in US is expected to return to Santiniketan in June.
On April 14 the university authorities had served Sen an eviction notice and it was put up at the gates of his residence Pratichi. The Visva-Bharati authorities have accused Sen of grabbing 13 decimal of land more than what was leased out to his father. The authorities had sent several letters asking him to return the land. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier stated that 1.38 acres of land should be registered in the name of Amartya Sen as per the will of his late father Ashutosh Sen. Following which, the Bolpur Land and Land Reforms Department recently recorded the land in the name of Amartya Sen. It should be noted that Pandit Kshitimohan Sen played an important role in the establishment of Visva-Bharati along with Rabindranath Tagore. His daughter Amita Sen was a student of Tagore, who named the Nobel laureate, 'Amartya'.
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The Sen family has been living in Santiniketan since Tagore's time. The land was leased out to Amartya Sen's father, Ashutosh Sen and later, after the term ended in 2006, Amartya Sen inherited it. Visva-Bharati authorities had alleged that 1.25 acres of land was leased to Amartya Sen but, his residence is spread on 1.38 acres thereby Sen possesses 13 decimal extra land.
