Guwahati, May 10: The region’s premier seat of higher education — Gauhati University — was thrown into turmoil this afternoon following the resignation of vice-chancellor Amarjyoti Choudhury in protest against Dispur’s alleged indifference to the problems of the university.

Sources in the university said Choudhury has sent his resignation to Assam Governor Lt Gen. (retd) Ajai Singh.

Choudhury, who is in Tezpur, could not be contacted. He, however, issued a three-page statement to the media this afternoon stating the reasons which compelled him to quit.

“Certain recent realisations have forced me to take the agonising decision. I have always sided with the just causes of the students, teachers and employees of the university. There are several burning issues, including early release of 10 per cent arrear dues to teachers and employees, enhancement of retirement age of GU teachers and creation of a corpus for pensioners, which need to be addressed immediately. But the government has not given any heed to solve the issues, forcing teachers to resort to the path of agitation,” the statement read.

“There is a huge gap between the annual grant in aid from the state government and amount needed for annual payment of salaries. This has used up the earning of GU in payment of salary rather than using the amount for the university’s development.”

The Assam government had appointed Choudhury as the vice-chancellor on September 15, 2006, replacing incumbent G.N. Talukdar two months before his retirement.

This is second time in less than eight months that Choudhury has resigned.

Sources in Tezpur said Choudhury had not given any inkling about his decision even at a NAAC-sponsored seminar on open higher education, which he attended at Darrang College from 2.30pm to 4pm today.

Choudhury claimed that when he took over as the vice-chancellor, Gauhati University was in ruins and he had tried to revive it in the last one-and-a-half years. He said the revival on the academic front was evident in the number of approved new courses and the manifold increase in research and consultancy initiatives. “But the recent remarks of education minister Ripun Bora do not reveal these truths,” he added. Bora could not be contacted for his comments.

A source in the education department said the official statement would be released after going through Choudhury’s resignation letter.

Reports from Dispur suggest that the authorities might not ask the V-C to reconsider his decision as he has this time “irrevocably” resigned from the post.

The All Assam Students’ Union held the education minister responsible for the crisis.