Crisis averted: The BT Road campus of Rabindra Bharati. A Telegraph picture

Bowing under pressure from students, the Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) authorities on Wednesday decided to withdraw its decision to postpone fine arts examinations so that the departments could be shifted from Jorasanko Thakurbari to its Emerald Bower premises on BT Road.

The examinations are slated to begin on May 28. The authorities had decided to postpone them till mid-June, so it could shift its four fine arts departments to a newly-constructed building on BT Road. The shifting was supposed to begin on May 25, and the authorities had planned to conduct the examinations later on the BT Road campus.

The students launched a movement on Tuesday to protest the plan to postpone the exams to facilitate the shift of the departments. A large number of students assembled at Jorasanko Thakurbari on Wednesday morning and organised a demonstration demanding that the exam schedule be not disrupted. They also demanded that the tests be held on the Jorasanko campus.

“There is no reason why we should allow the authorities to postpone the exams for the sake of shifting the departments. That can be done later,” said an aggrieved student.

The authorities were forced to meet a delegation of students. Vice-chancellor Bharati Mukherjee and registrar Santosh Ghorui held a meeting with five leaders of the SFI-controlled students’ union of the university and decided to hold the exams from May 28 and defer the shifting of the departments.

“We have decided to stall the shifting considering the students’ demand. The exam routine remains as was initially decided, at Jorasanko. The new dates for the shifting will be announced later,” said Ghorui.