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Former Visva-Bharati V-C Bidyut Chakrabarty asked to vacate official quarter
The police summons, served a day after Bidyut Chakrabarty’s term ended, required him to present himself before the investigating officers at Santiniketan police station
KOLKATA: Bidyut Chakrabarty, whose term as vice-chancellor (V-C) of Visva-Bharati, ended on November 8, has been told to vacate the official quarters on campus following allegations by teachers that he is occupying it illegally, people aware of the development said.
Sanjoy Kumar Mallik, the interim V-C, did not comment on the issue but officials said he sent a letter to Chakrabarty on Tuesday asking him to vacate ‘Purbita,’ the house allocated for serving V-Cs.
“Chakrabarty replied to the letter late on Tuesday evening. The content of his letter is not known,” a Visva-Bharati functionary said on condition of anonymity.
Mahua Banerjee, the Visva-Bharati spokesperson, refused to make any official comment.
Chakrabarty could not be contacted despite several attempts.
The development took place days after Chakrabarty was served back-to-back summons by Santiniketan police station in Birbhum district, where the university is located, in connection with five criminal complaints lodged against him between August and November this year.
The summons, served a day after Chakrabarty’s term ended, required him to present himself before the investigating officers at Santiniketan police station on November 10.
Chakrabarty moved the Calcutta high court against the summons on November 10, alleging that false cases were registered against him at the behest of the political dispensation in West Bengal.
Justice Jay Sengupta ordered the Santiniketan police to meet Chakrabarty at his residence on November 20 and 22 and complete the questioning in all five cases within one hour on each day.
“It is quite uncanny indeed that different police officers belonging to the same police station issued notices to the petitioner to appear and be examined on the very next date of issuance of such notices. Incidentally, all these notices were issued immediately after the petitioner demitted his office as the vice-chancellor of the university. One wonders whether this was a concerted effort. These facts would themselves warrant an interim interference,” the high court said in its order. HT has reviewed a copy of the order.
It said the police will interrogate him at his residence and shall not arrest him in connection with these cases tlll the next date. The case will be heard again at 3 pm on November 29 as a “specially fixed matter,” the judge said.
This does not mean that Chakrabarty should continue living in the vice chancellor’s official residence, said a member of Visva Bharati University Faculty Association.
The central university has been in the news after Chakrabarty took over as V-C in 2018. It witnessed a series of agitations following disciplinary action against teachers and students who were later granted relief by the Calcutta high court where more than 150 cases are pending.
Chakrabarty also drew flak recently over three stone plaques marking the inclusion of Santiniketan in the UNESCO World Heritage list because the plaques did not mention Rabindranath Tagore who founded Visva-Bharati in 1921.
Chakrabarty also drew flak for accusing Nobel laureate Amartya Sen of illegally occupying 13 decimals of the 1.38 acres of leased land covered by his ancestral property on campus. The case is being heard by a Birbhum district court.
