West Bengal: Land owned by Amartya Sen's father on Visva Bharati campus mutated under his name

According to the office of the Block Land and Land Reforms Officer (BLRO), the property is now under Amartya Sen’s name.

For the past few months, a row erupted over the mutation of the land where Amartya Sen's house ‘Pratichi’ is in Santiniketan.

Apparently, the dispute between Amartya Sen and Visva Bharati has finally been ‘settled’, according to media reports.

The row over the land erupted in January 2021 when Visva Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty alleged that Amartya Sen's family was illegally holding land at the campus.

Reportedly, both parties had appeared at the Land and Land Reforms Department for mutation of the land of 'Pratichi' but no solution came out.

Soon after, the Nobel laureate was sent an eviction notice.

Questions have also been raised as to why the eviction notice is issued before the settlement of the mutation.

The document shows that the mutation of land bearing 1900/2487 Dag and Khatian No. 270 of Surul Mauza in Bolpur block is in Amartya's name.

Not only that, the area of land is also 1.38 acres, according to the document.

However, the authenticity of the this document couldn’t be verified.

According to BLRO office sources, the land in the name of father Ashutosh has been transferred to his son Amartya Sen, said media reports.

The Visva Bharati University authorities have been claiming that 1.38 acres of land was never leased to Amartya Sen’s father Ashutosh Sen in 1943.

According to the University, only 1.25 acres of land was leased.

Based on the claim, Visva Bharati accused Amartya of occupying 13 deciles of land.

According to the University administration, it is clear from the registered lease deed signed between Visva Bharati and Ashutosh Sen in 1943 and the proposal passed by the Karma Samiti in 2006 that neither Ashutosh nor Amartya was given ownership of any land, let alone 1.38 acres of land.

The three-page sow cause notice asked or any of his representatives have been asked to be present at the conference hall of the university’s Central Admission Building on March 29 for a hearing.

 The letter stated, “In pursuance of sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, I hereby call upon you to show cause on or before the 24th March 2023 why an order of eviction should not be made against you in respect of the public premises mentioned in the schedule below”.

The letter also read, “Also, in pursuance of clause (b) (i) of sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the said Act, I call upon you to appear before me in person or through a duly authorised representative capable to answer all material questions connected with the matter, along with the evidence which you intend to produce in support of the cause shown, on, 29th March 2023 at 4.45 p.m, in the Conference Hall of Central Adm'n Building, Visva-Bharati, for a personal hearing. In case, you or your authorised representative fails to appear on the said date and time, the case may be decided ex-parte”.

According to media reports, the eviction notice issued by Visva Bharati became 'meaningless' as the land was mutated in the name of the economist.​

Land mutation is the process of transferring the ownership of a property or land from one person to another in the official records maintained by the government. It involves updating the land or property records to reflect the new ownership.