A policeman removes a burning tyre from the gates of Patna University on Wednesday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Freshers coming to Patna University to take admission to various courses had to return disappointed for two days, as their seniors disrupted administrative work with protests and clashes.

On Wednesday, hundreds of members of Patna University Students’ Union (Pusu) — led by president Ashish Sinha and secretary Anupriya — staged a protest in front of the main administrative block of the university, demanding a constitution for the union.

They closed the two entrance gates of the university and shut down offices at the administrative block.

Sources said many students who had come to the university to take admission had to go back without submitting their documents.

Nitin Sharma, who had come on Wednesday to take admission to MA in history, was one of them. “I couldn’t take admission because of the protest. The last date for taking admission is August 8. So, I shall have to come back tomorrow (Thursday),” he said.

Patna University proctor Kriteshwar Prasad said: “The protest of the students started around 10.30am. It continued till 12.30pm.” The protests stopped only after the intervention of personnel from the Pirbahore police station.

The leader of the protesters, Pusu president Ashish Sinha said: “It has been more than nine months since the university elections were held. But we have still not been provided with a constitution. As a result, we don’t know about our rights and duties.”

He added that in the last three months, the university had not accepted any of their demands for the welfare of the students. “Our tenure will be over in two months, according to the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. Student union elections have to be held within six weeks of the start of the new session. If the academic session starts in the second week of August this year, the election would have to be completed by mid-October.”

University sources said the constitution was ready but the authorities were waiting for an approval from the academic council and Raj Bhavan.

On Tuesday, a group of students had clashed on Patna Science College campus over parking their cycles but they patched up their difference in front of PU proctor Prasad on Wednesday.