Amartya Sen told to vacate land at Santiniketan

New Delhi, April 20

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen will have to vacate 13 decimals of his 1.38-acre ancestral property, a leased land on the campus of the Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan in West Bengal.

In 1951, Visva-Bharati was declared a Central University and “An Institution of National Importance” by an Act of Parliament. It was granted the status of a unitary, teaching and residential university. It was founded in 1921 by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.

The university, in its eviction order, has asked Sen to vacate the land by May 6 or within 15 days of the publication of the last order, which was issued late Wednesday night. It alleged that the land was occupied in an “unauthorised manner”. Sen (89), currently in the US, is likely to return to India in June.

“It is decided that 13 decimals of land (50 ft X 111 ft) in the north-west corner of the scheduled premises is to be recovered from him,” the notice issued by Joint Registrar Asish Mahato read. The notice said that in case of refusal or failure to comply with the order, Sen and all persons concerned were “liable to be evicted from the premises, if need be, by use of force as may be necessary”. The university has claimed that Sen’s father rented only 1.25 acres of land on a 99-year lease in 1943 while the remaining 13 decimal was illegally occupied by Sen.