West Bengal: Visva Bharati accuses left-leaning economist Amartya Sen of illegal land grab

Kolkata: The Visva Bharati University has asked Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to hand over a plot of land which it accused the noted economist of occupying in an illegal manner.

A letter from the deputy registrar of the Visva Bharati University on Tuesday said the residence of noted economist Amartya Sen has been built on an area that covers extra 13 decimals of land at Santiniketan in the Birbhum district of West Bengal.

The Visva Bharati University also said that it was ready to undertake a joint survey of its representatives and the surveyor or advocate deputed by Amartya Sen to verify the claims if he wanted.

“It has been found from records and physical survey/demarcation that you are in unauthorised occupation of 13 decimals of land belonging to Visva Bharati…” the letter said.

“You are requested to hand over the said 13 decimals of land to the university at the earliest,” it added.

Visva Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty had accused Amartya Sen and his family of occupying land on the campus in an unauthorised manner in January 2021.

Amartya Sen, on his part, had claimed that the piece of land in question has been leased to him on a long-time contract.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had earlier come out in support of Amartya Sen, claiming that the Nobel Prize awardee was being harassed by the Visva Bharati authorities due to his criticism of the BJP-led central government.

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