Amartya Sen asks Visva-Bharati to withdraw allegation that he is illegally holding land

Nobel laureate economist AmartyaSen on Monday wrote to Visva-Bharati university demanding thatit withdraw the allegation that his family is in ''illegal''possession of land in its Santiniketan campus and alleged thatthe accusations are a crude attempt at harassment.

Sen wrote the letter to Visva-Bharati Vice-ChancellorProf Bidyut Chakraborty two days after the authorities of thecentral university asked the West Bengal government to measurethe plot owned by him at Santiniketan as soon as possible topermanently resolve the dispute.

The noted economist said in the letter that his fatherhad purchased free-hold land from the market and not fromVisva-Bharati - to add to their homestead and he has beenpaying taxes for them.

He had also sent a legal notice earlier this year tothe VC asking him to withdraw immediately your falseallegation made to the news agencies that a plot of land ownedby Visva-Bharati is unlawfully occupied by me.

While the university was not able to provide anyjustification for the allegation, it has requested the WestBengal government ''to measure the area of our homestead,Pratichi, to compare with the long term lease of land taken bymy father in 1940 from Visva-Bharati,'' Sen said in the letter.

''This sudden abuse of an 80-year-old document isclearly a crude attempt at harassment or worse,'' he said.

''Among other errors it ignores the big fact, which Ihave stated many times (even in the context of this dispute),that a substantial amount of free-hold land was purchased bymy father (in the market -- not from Visva-Bharati) to add toour homestead on which khajna and Panchayat taxes are paid byme yearly,'' the letter said.

Hence the officiating registrar's threat of legalaction against him if the official discovers any additionalland beyond the leased land seems hugely mischievous, Sensaid.

Stating that he is tired of the VC's repeated claimsdespite emphatic denials on his part about his phone call toChakraborty in 2019, Sen said that the VC insisted that thecall was made either on June 2 or June 14.

''On being informed that I was abroad for the entiremonth of June 2019 and came back to India only in July, thestory was promptly altered by the V.C.'s office to assert thatI had called in June or July but said the same things,'' theletter said.

''Rather than inventing new falsities and adding totheir culpability, Visva-Bharati should withdraw the falseallegations made by them, as my lawyer has asked,'' Sen said.

A controversy had erupted on December 24 last year,the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the centenarycelebrations of Visva-Bharati, when media reported that theuniversity has written to the West Bengal government allegingdozens of land parcels owned by it were wrongfully recorded inthe names of private parties including Sen.

Sen, who now lives in the USA, has said that the land,on which his house stands is on a long-term lease, which isnowhere near its expiry.

Stating that the Visva-Bharati authorities had nevercomplained to him or his family about any irregularity inholding the land, Sen has accused the VC of acting at thebehest of the Centre ''with its growing control over Bengal''.

Visva-Bharati officials were not available for commenton the letter.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and severalprominent intellectuals of the state have expressed support tothe economist on the row.