Cuttack, July 21: Tension prevailed at the Ravenshaw University following student unrest over hike in readmission fee in the undergraduate, postgraduate and self-financing courses.

Alleging that the readmission fee had been hiked by almost 50 to 60 per cent, the students today staged a demonstration and ghearoed the vice-chancellor's office.

The All India Democratic Students Association has also protested against the move to hike the fee.

The students' organisation threatened an indefinite agitation against such arbitrary decision. They stalled the functioning of the administrative wing as a mark of protest.

"The authorities have arbitrarily increased the readmission fee - which is totally unjustified," said Amarendra Nayak, a Plus Three second-year student of the chemistry department.

Nayak alleged the authorities had increased the readmission fee from Rs 316 to Rs 813 for arts, science and commerce streams for the undergraduate courses.

The fee for the SC/ST students has also been revised from Rs 216 per year to Rs 693 - which is likely to create problems for many students. Similarly, the readmission fee for the postgraduate students has also been hiked from Rs 250 per year to Rs 737 for arts, science as well as commerce courses.

The students alleged that a notification was published regarding collection of the revised readmission fee on Sunday while most of them were unaware of such a development.

The students are also protesting against the hike in the readmission fee since no academic calendar, fee structure break-up and other necessary information are being provided to them.

"Without any prior notification, the authorities had hiked the readmission fee yesterday. We are totally against the decision and will intensify our agitation," said Sibani Sahu, a second-year student of history.

Earlier this month, the varsity had witnessed a similar student unrest over the hike in hostel fees by nearly Rs 1,000. The students alleged that the authorities had revised the hostel fees by collecting as much as Rs 800 as development fee.

Authorities of the Ravenshaw University, on the other hand, claimed that the decision to revise hostel and readmission fees was due to the effective management of the day-to-day expenses of the varsity.

"Keeping in view of the student unrest, we have decided to reschedule the collection of the revised readmission fee - which will be finalised after prior discussion with students and an appropriate fee structure committee," said varsity registrar Kishore Das.