Nobel winner Amartya Sen is entangled in a land dispute with Visva-Bharati University in Santi Niketan.
Lately, an unwanted and unpleasant issue of usurping a small portion of the land of Visva-Bharati University is haunting Dr. Amartya Sen and it is getting worse by complicating an issue between this famous Alumnus and his teacher University. The university alleges that Dr. Sen is usurping 13 decimals (5662 square feet approximately) of land which belongs to the University. Originally Dr. Ashutosh Sen, father of Amartya Sen was the lessee and later on, it was put in Dr. Amartya Sen’s name. Visva Bharati claims that they wanted an amicable solution by physically surveying the land to this problem but so far, no response was received from Dr. Sen’s end. However, in January of 2023, suddenly C.M. Mamata Banerjee fetched some paper from Birbhum Land Reforms Office and gave it to Sr. Sen and claimed that the disputed land now belongs to Dr. Sen and Visva- Bharati has nothing to do with it. In response to this act of Chief Minister Mamata Bandopadhyay, in a press conference the V.C. Dr. Bidyut Chakravarty has claimed that the Chief Minister’s paper is neither valid nor legitimate, because the land belongs to Visva-Bharat and she has no right to give away Visva Bharati’s property to Dr. Sen, he also has reiterated that the university will try its best to recover this encroached portion of the land which belongs to the University. He also emphatically mentioned that instead of protecting the interest of the University the chief minister has sided with Dr. Sen for some personal reason. He also mentioned if negotiations fail, the university will seek legal help to protect its interest. The way it looks, finally both sides may end up in court for a correct solution to this unwanted land dispute. However, for now, it is to see if this controversy lands in the court for a legal solution. However, in the week of February 19, Dr.Sen filed an application for a hearing to the BLR office of Birbhum claiming that he has paid Rs 18600.00 in the year 2006 for the mutation of the land (1.38 decimal) in his name.
On the other hand, it is claimed by Bisva-Bharati’s attorney Sucharita Biswas claimed that Amartya Sen did not submit any document with his application in support of his claim. Since Visva-Bharati was not prepared for such an unclear issue, the Visva-Bharati has requested to adjourn the hearing so that they can prepare themselves for this case. She also mentioned that the deed of Visva-Bharati and Dr. Ashutosh Sen, clearly mentions that 1.25 decimal land was leased while the BLR office has written it as 1.38 decimal, the RS Parcha will
establish the mistake done by BLR Office. She has also claimed it is merely a clerical error and this mistake needs to be corrected to stop any future dispute between the parties involved. According to her, a mistake should not continue forever, since it has surfaced, it must be corrected and Dr. Sen must return the land to Visva-Bharati.
Had Dr. Amartya Sen not won the Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences this land dispute probably would have never come to limelight consequently creating a huge commotion between him and Visva-Bharati University. However, this unwanted episode should never trivialize the gravity of his winning the Nobel Prize.
We all have seen that big people sometimes do small things which make them so small that their pride or fame cannot save them from being thrown out of the rainbow of fame or elegance. However, eventually, the truth will come out to end this dispute for once and all. The real history of this land dispute will be discovered to satisfy all parties and the public.

Finally, no matter what, this incident should never deprive him of his fame and glory of receiving the Nobel Prize. He is India’s pride and Bengal’s glory, who wore the medal of “Nobel Prize” and proudly walked out into the world as one of the “Nobel Laureates.”
Reference – Google/Visva Bharati