Bhubaneswar, Dec. 27: Former students of Biju Patnaik University of Technology today hurled eggs and tomatoes at their vice-chancellor to protest against an alleged delay in publication of exam results and issuance of certificates.

The irate students also waved black flags at the varsity VC, Shyam Sundar Pattnaik, at an alumni meet, which was organised at a posh city hotel.

As soon as the VC reached the stage, the students allegedly barged into the venue and gheraoed him. They also demanded removal of Pattnaik from the post of VC. Police rushed to the venue to rescue Pattnaik.

"The university has not given us degree/diploma certificates since 2012. Most of us have secured jobs with provisional certificates. But our employers may seek final certificates any time. If we fail to produce the paper, we may even lose our jobs. The VC is responsible for all this," said Surya Prakash, a protesting alumni.

The alumni also cried that the varsity's funds were not being properly utilised and demanded a high-level probe into the alleged misappropriation of funds.

They alleged that the Special Recruitment Drive, which the state government announced in August 2014, never took off at BPUT.

The BPUT had postponed the drive due to lack of recruiters. But, some 50,000 students had registered for the drive for Rs 100 each.

Pattnaik, however, said that today's incident was the result of a misunderstanding. "We wanted to bring them on one platform to discuss the university's development. But I think that some misunderstanding has led to the incident," he said.

The BPUT today began a probe into the alleged leakage of questions of communicative English exam on Saturday. "We have formed a four-member committee which will submit its report in 10 days," said Pattnaik.