SEPT 16: The estate authorities of the Bhabha Atomic Research (BARC) have forcefully evicted Prithwish Sain who recently attempted suicide in the Mumbai High Court, from his official accommodation.The action came on Friday, when, accompanied by security and police, the BARC estate authorities removed all his belongings and took them into "safe custody," but not before a physical confrontation had ensued.Director of BARC's estate management A K Gupta confirmed the eviction. Gupta said: "I have inquired. He had been overstaying at the residence, he had to be evicted." "It is unfortunate," Gupta added, "that Sain assaulted our officers for carrying out their duties. For that, we are taking action against him." Gupta said: "All his property is kept in safe custody for him to collect. All he has to do is to come to the gate and ask the security officer. All his items were listed in front of panchas and a panchnama has been prepared. We have followed all the legal procedures." But BARC did not follow the required procedure. What actually transpired does not match with Gupta's explanation. The BARC authorities had obtained the right to evict him in June. Later, the court granted Sain a time-bound stay, which expired. Under the Public Premises Eviction Act, the order of eviction has to be served on Sain. If Sain refused to accept the order, all they had to do was to paste the order on his door.But sources say BARC was unable to obtain a certified copy of the eviction order. Apparently, the lower court had issued oral orders and the BARC had found it difficult to obtain a certified copy of the order.An investigation revealed that when the estate authorities swooped down on Sain's residence at about two p.m. on Friday, Sain asked for the viction order. But it was neither served nor shown to him. Sain then told them they could not enter his premises without a legal order and barred their way. It was then that the security personnel tried to push him away and when the frail Sain remained adamant, they beat him up and took him to the police station at Trombay.The eviction proceedings were completed and the panchanama recorded in his absence. On returning from the police station, Sain was prevented from entering the building. Sain requested for his belongings. In reply, the security guards allegedly manhandled him.Without pay for over two years, Sain has been fighting a running battle against the BARC, alleging victimisation for attempting to expose rampant corruption and unscientific activities in the Health Physics department of the BARC.Sain was transferred to a BARC health physics unit Indian Rare Earths Limited, Alwaye in 1998. But he was not given the original transfer order. BARC says Sain refused to accept the transfer order. But Sain had managed to obtain a copy following a Court directive and went to Alwaye to join duties at IRE, but IRE refused to accept him on the grounds that they had no information regarding his transfer. This paper is in possession of documents showing his place of residence at Alwaye the to-and-from return tickets etc. When Sain returned to BARC, they refused to entertain him and told him to go back to Alwaye in Kerala. Till date, the original transfer orders have not been served on Sain.The organisation he has been transferred to will not take him for lack of valid documents despite a High Court order in the matter of writ petition number 2184 of 1999. The office transferring him will not retain him and will not give him the original transfer orders.The BARC will not dismiss him nor accept his resignation, which he had submitted on November 11, 1996 and to which he has not received a reply till date. And now he has been evicted from his official residence because he has not paid the license and allied charges to the estate authorities and has now no place to stay. The courts will not hear him because he has no money to appoint lawyers to fight his case. The lawyers will not take his case because he has no money to pay them. Sain refuses to accept money from others. He barely eats.
