The hearing of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s stay application on the eviction order issued by Visva-Bharati from a stretch of his ancestral home Pratichi was deferred to May 30 by the acting Birbhum district judge on Wednesday.
The hearing was scheduled on Wednesday following a May 4 order by Calcutta High Court. The high court had issued an interim stay on the eviction notice till the Birbhum district judge disposed of the stay application.
“The district judge Sudeshna De (Chatterjee) is still on leave. The advocates of both sides agreed on a suitable date for the hearing. After listening to both sides, acting district judge Sarajit Majumder deferred the hearing to May 30,” said Malay Mukherjee, district public prosecutor of Birbhum.
He said Sen’s lawyers requested the hearing be done in the presence of the district judge.
Visva-Bharati on April 19 issued an eviction notice asking Sen to vacate 13 decimals of land at Pratichi. The varsity threatened to use force to take back the land, which it claimed was under the economist’s “unauthorised occupation”.
Sen’s lawyers on April 26 approached the Birbhum district judge, seeking a stay on Visva-Bharati’s eviction order. Sen’s lawyers also moved the high court. On May 4, Justice Bibhas Ranjan De issued the stay till it was disposed of in the lower court.
