IMPHAL: A division bench of the Manipur high court on Monday rejected Manipur University (MU) vice-chancellor Adya Prashad Pandey 's plea seeking suspension of the memorandum of agreement (MoA) signed by the state, Centre and MU protesters.Pandey had filed a petition seeking quashing of the MoA, disbanding of the fact-finding committee probing the allegations against him, and revoking of his suspension so that he can discharge his duties as per the mandate of Manipur University Act 2005.Rejecting all his demands, the division bench headed by Justices N Kotiswar and Kh Nobin fixed October 5 as the date of next hearing.On September 17, President Ram Nath Kovind, in his capacity as the visitor of MU, had suspended Pandey. The suspension would be effective till the completion of the inquiry against him. The probe panel comprises chief justice of Meghalaya high court T Nandakumar Singh and retired VC of Tejpur University, MK Choudhury. Pandey had sought the dissolution of the probe panel and had challenged the legality of the MoA which was son August 16. The MoA, among other points, had agreed to set up the independent probe panel to investigate the charges of financial and administrative irregularities levelled against Pandey.On Monday evening, MU Teachers' Association and MU Staff Association held talks with chief minister N Biren Singh to resolve the three-month impasse at the Centre-run varsity. Biren assured the MU delegation that police forces will be withdrawn from the MU campus and there will be no further raids. When the MU delegation sought the immediate release of the arrested students and teachers, Biren said, "The government does not have the authority to release the arrested teachers and students without any condition."Following a complaint lodged by the newly appointed pro VC of the varsity K Yugindro, police had on September 21 raided the varsity campus and arrested 6 teachers and over 80 students. On the same day, an Imphal court remanded the six teachers and nine students to judicial custody for 15 days. The six teachers were also suspended by MU.Meanwhile, the health condition of 12 female students of MU, who have been sitting on hunger strike till September 24, has been reportedly deteriorating. Some of them have been hospitalized now, but eight of them are still continuing their strike in front of the women's hostel. The students are demanding withdrawal of state and Central forces from the MU campus and restoration of normalcy.The students on hunger strike said the state government and MU officials have totally ignored their agitation. They also added that when education minister T Radheshyam visited the MU campus, he avoided meeting them.

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