Agitating teachers of Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) said they would resume classes on Monday and go on a hunger strike the next day if the authorities did not notify the start of a new academic session.

A delegation from the teachers’ union met Birenjit Pal and Bhaskar Sen, members of the Besu management board, to explain their stand on the dispute that has delayed the announcement of end-semester results and the next academic session by over a fortnight.

The standoff began when vice-chancellor N.R. Banerjea asked for the mid-semester answer scripts, which the teachers refused to hand over on the ground that records of “internal assessments” had never before been submitted to the management.

Manas Hira, the secretary of the teachers’ union, said the two board members made a similar request during Thursday’s meeting. “The members said they would return the scripts in two days, but we did not agree.”

The teachers are willing to hand over the scripts to Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the chancellor of the university. They are due to meet him at 3pm on Friday.

Hira said the board members told the delegation that they were “unaware” about classes being due from July 7. “The decision to defer the academic session indefinitely has been taken by the vice-chancellor without the consent of the academic council or the management board.”

The vice-chancellor refused to meet the teachers both on Wednesday and Thursday.

A senior teacher said being asked to hand over the mid-semester answer scripts was not a trivial issue.

“This has long-term implications and is against university rules. If the rules need to be changed so that the scripts remain with the university, the decision has to be taken by the academic council, which is the highest decision-making body on academic matters of the university. The vice-chancellor cannot unilaterally subvert the academic council and take arbitrary decisions.”