Visva-Bharati submits documents to court in Amartya Sen eviction case

The Visva-Bharati university submitted several documents to a court on Saturday, 16 September in West Bengal’s Birbhum district to justify the eviction notice it has served on Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, asking him to vacate 0.13 acre (5,500 square feet) of land which the varsity claims he is illegally occupying.

District judge Sudeshna De (Chatterjee) on 8 August stayed the eviction notice and directed that the stay will be in force until the disposal of the main case related to ownership of the plot on the Santiniketan campus of the central university.

The court was hearing a case in which the economist challenged the eviction notice.

“Today the university authorities submitted several documents in support of the eviction order. We have asked for copies. The court will pass an order on whether we can get those documents on 21 September,” said Rahul Auddy, one of the lawyers for Sen.

Visva-Bharati had sent the eviction notice to the economist on 19 April, asking him to vacate 0.13 acres of the total 1.38 acres of land of his ancestral residence ‘Pratichi’ in Santiniketan by 6 May.