Kolkata: Calcutta High Court has issued a stay against Visva Bharati University's move to take away a part of Amartya Sen's property at Shantiniketan.
The university had passed an order directing the Nobel laureate to vacate 0.13 acres (5,500 sq ft) of land at his ancestral Santiniketan residence by May 6. An appeal for a stay on possible eviction was fixed for hearing on May 15, 2023, at a court in Suri in Birbhum district of West Bengal. In spite of this, the central varsity said it would evict Sen if he doesn't vacate the property within the deadline.
Now, the High Court bench of Justice Bibhas Ranjan De gave an interim stay till the matter is heard before the lower court.
According to the varsity, the land is under the "illegal occupation" of the economist.
Sen argued that in October 1943, the then Visva-Bharati general secretary Rathindranath Tagore had given 1.38 acres of land for a lease of 99 years to his father Ashutosh Sen, who later built 'Pratichi', his residence.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked state ministers to begin a sit-in demonstration outside Sen's house against the eviction order. Visva-Bharati has written to the Birbhum district administration to prevent protests around the campus.
When the CM raised the question of whether the property will be bulldozed, a Visva-Bharati official said: There is no question of demolition or bulldozing. What and why will we demolish? Firstly there is nothing to be demolished on the encroached part of the land. It is vacant and there are some small and big trees only."
"Pratichi -- the ancestral house of Amartya Sen along with the entire land is the property of Visva-Bharati. After the end of the residual period of the lease, the entire property will return to the university's possession. Why should we cause harm to our own property?" he added.