‘Not possible for Amartya Sen to appear in court on March 29...’

Kolkata: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s lawyer has again written to Visva-Bharati University (VBU) saying that Sen will not be able to appear at the court on March 29, as he will return here after 4 months. The lawyer told the varsity that it is not possible for him to appear.

The university had asked the Nobel laureate to remain present on March 29.

Visva-Bharati University earlier had served a notice to Sen asking him to return what it alleged was illegally occupied land belonging to the varsity.

The notice served to the economist demanded that Sen must return to the university around 13 decimals of land in Santiniketan, which is allegedly not part of his family-owned estate.

However, the Nobel laureate disagrees with the claims of the university. According to him, the 13 decimals of the land concerned was leased by Visva Bharati to his father Ashutosh Sen in 1943. The Nobel laureate’s father Asutosh Sen had taken 125 decimals of land on lease from the varsity in 1943, a varsity spokesperson said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday met Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and backed him on his latest tussle with the Visva-Bharati University authorities over a land dispute.

She visited Sen at his Santiniketan residence ‘Pratichi’ and handed over a state land and revenue department record, which states that 1.38 acres of land covered by the economist’s ancestral property belongs to him by virtue of a mutation executed in 2006.