MU agitation to be suspended from today

IMPHAL: The 75-day long agitation at Manipur University will be temporarily suspended from tomorrow after the stakeholders reached a mutual agreement on Thursday.

The students of the university have been demanding the removal of Vice-chancellor AP Pandey and constitution of an Independent Enquiry Committee to look into the allegations of administrative and financial lapses made by the V-C. The decision to temporarily suspend the agitation was made today following rounds of talk held consecutively from August 14, according to a copy of the memorandum made available to the media.

The memorandum, signed by Joint Secretary GC Hosur of the Union HRD Ministry, Commissioner (Higher and Technical Education) Government of Manipur and leaders of the agitating bodies, stated that there will be “temporary suspension” after issuance of the official orders tomorrow.

The agitation, that began on May 30, is being spearheaded by the University Community functioning under the aegis of MU Students Union, MU Teachers Association and Manipur University Staffs' Association. The agitation had affected the academic activities in the Central varsity as well as stopped the declaration of the exam results of the final year college students. CM N Biren Singh had yesterday promised that the impasse will be over within 2-3 days.

As per the memorandum, the fact finding committee will be reconstituted as an independent 2-member enquiry committee chaired by former acting chief justice of Meghalaya High Court T Nandakumar Singh.

Earlier, the University Community had remained adamant they would not accept the fact finding committee which was constituted by the HRD ministry on July 12.