Ranchi, Aug. 1: Bhagalpur university professor Nand Kumar Yadav Indu assumed charge today as the new full-time vice-chancellor of Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ), promising to quell ongoing students' protest and steer the troubled-torn varsity towards a functional institution of higher learning.

Indu arrived here this afternoon, following a Union HRD ministry notification issued late last night, replacing acting VC A.N. Misra, whom students held responsible for all the nagging problems on campus.

Classes at CUJ were suspended on Thursday, while students were asked to vacate hostels yesterday following protests against bad food, infrastructure deficiencies and general mismanagement since earlier in the week.

Soon after reaching the Brambe campus and taking charge, Indu, who was professor at the postgraduate department of chemistry at Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, addressed teaching and non-teaching staff and promised to act as a guardian to resolve all problems at CUJ.

"I learnt about these (students' complaints) through newspapers. I have spoken to university officials to understand the ground realities. I will also speak to the agitating students. Since CUJ did not have a fulltime VC, there were some problems. An acting VC has certain limitations," he said, promising to address the problems of funds crunch and lack of faculty members on a priority basis.

However, he did not promise immediate resumption of classes.

"The sine die adjournment (of classes) is of course no solution to any problem because it adversely affects academic activities. But at this moment, I cannot give any assurance. I will hear from the students. I will also have to see if any kind of politics is involved in the ongoing conflict between CUJ authorities and the students," he said while seeking the cooperation of the administration, teachers and students.

Earlier, elaborating on his appointment, Indu, a PhD from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena in Germany, said, "I received a phone call from a joint secretary-rank official at the Union HRD yesterday evening, who told me about my appointment as the CUJ VC.

Rahul Chaturvedi, the chief communication officer of CUJ, said the varsity received the HRD communiqué around 10.30pm last night, around 16 months after former fulltime VC D.T. Khathing completed his tenure in February 2014.

Misra was appointed acting VC in March last year.

Students welcomed Indu's appointment. "I am hopeful that he will lead the varsity towards a new direction. Food is not the only issue; we can manage with substandard food. But we cannot study with improper infrastructure and facilities," said Abhishek Kumar, a mass communication student.

Listing a few of the problems, Kumar said that since CUJ did not have functional laboratories, all engineering students needed to go to BIT for practical lessons.

"In the mass communication department, we are never taken for on-field exercises. Placement is another big problem. There is a placement cell but it does not work," he added.

Rahul Kumar Singh, a student Chemistry, also termed the appointment a welcome move. "I wish all our problems end and the institute excels under his (Indu) regime."