A court in Birbhum district of West Bengal on Tuesday, August 8, stayed the eviction notice that Visva-Bharati University (VBU) served to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. The notice had directed Sen to vacate the 0.13 acre (5,500 square feet) of land which VBU alleges that he is occupying illegally, as stated in a report by PTI.

Sudeshna De (Chatterjee), district judge, also directed that the eviction notice stay will remain in force till the main case regarding the plot in the Santiniketan campus of the central university is disposed. 

It is on September 16 that the next hearing on the main case will be held in the court. 

The aforementioned stay order was given in the hearing of the case in which Sen challenged VBU's eviction notice.

On April 19, VBU had sent the eviction notice to the Nobel laureate which asked him to vacate 0.13 acres of the total 1.38 acres of land of his ancestral residence, Pratichi in Santiniketan. 

One of the lawyers for Sen, Rahul Auddy, stated, "The arguments of the two parties concluded on July 28. Today the court stayed the eviction notice issued by Visva Bharati authority till the disposal of the main case."