Imphal, Oct. 26: Manipur University's new vice-chancellor, Adya Prasad Pandey, arrived here today and took charge of the university which has been recently rocked by student protests over the issue of reservation.

Pandey, the head of the economics department of Benaras Hindu University, was appointed the new vice-chancellor of Manipur University by the Union human resource development ministry yesterday. He replaces vice-chancellor in-charge Amar Yumnam, who will now return to his previous post in the economics department of Manipur University.

Manipur University was without a regular vice-chancellor after H.N.K. Sharma retired on August 16. Since then two vice-chancellors in-charge have resigned as they could not handle the reservation controversy.

The admission process for all postgraduate courses of the university was supposed to have been completed by July but the controversy has delayed everything. All classes of the university have remained suspended since October 4 after the student agitation turned violent.

The controversy erupted when a section of students demanded the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 - which reserves 7.5 per cent of the seats for Scheduled Tribe candidates, 15 per cent seats for Scheduled Caste candidates and 27 per cent seats for other backward classes - while another section of students, mostly from indigenous communities, wanted the university to implement the amended 2012 version of the central act, which reserves 2 per cent of seats for SCs, 31 per cent of seats for STs and 17 per cent of seats for OBCs.

Sections of the students and the teaching community argue that the amended laws were meant for tribal states of the Northeast while Manipur is not a tribal state.

Pandey arrived here this morning and moved into an Imphal hotel before heading for the troubled campus in the afternoon. After assuming charge, the vice-chancellor interacted with all the heads of departments, deans and senior officials of the university in an informal meeting in his chamber.

Though many speculated that the vice-chancellor would not stay long, given Manipur's law and order situation and also the complexity of the reservation problem, Pandey appeared to be prepared to resolve the reservation row, sources said.

"The local people should get benefits from the university and measures should be taken accordingly," the vice-chancellor told the teachers.

He listened to briefings by teachers and officials on academic activities at the university. The teachers urged the vice-chancellor to listen to all sections of the teaching community, officials and students to find a permanent solution to the reservation issue.

However, Pandey did not discuss the reservation problem today. "It was an informal meeting to get to know one another. We exchanged niceties. Admission issue was not mentioned during the meeting," a teacher of the university said.

After taking stock of the situation on the campus, Pandey is expected to visit New Delhi to meet officials of the human resource development ministry and UGC to appraise them of the situation and also thrash out a solution to the reservation row.