Berhampur: Most of the students of Government College of Art and Craft, Khallikote appeared for the annual examination on Tuesday.

"We are trying to convince the other students, who are in Bhubaneswar, to come to the college campus and take the test," said principal Jayant Kumar Das.

The annual exam will continue till May 15 and the other students can appear in the exam in between, he said.

"When the second-year students have brought ragging allegation against two fourth-year students and have been sitting on dharna in Bhubaneswar for past two weeks, we have deputed two lecturers Somnath Rout, Trinath Mahanty and hostel superintendent Bipin Martha to Bhubaneswar to persuade them to come back," he said.

However, the principal alleged that three lecturers, including Debi Prasad Das, Somnath Rout and Trinath Mohanty, had instigated the students to stage agitation. "One of the lecturers has dispatched an email to the University Grants Commission (UGC) about the alleged ragging from his mail ID," he said. "We would definitely take disciplinary action against the lecturer."

The students, who registered a complaint with the UGC's anti-ragging cell, also submitted a memorandum to the director of culture. According to the allegation, some students of the bachelors of visual arts course, all of them hostel inmates, were watching a film in art history department in the evening when one of their seniors asked them to vacate the room. When three students informed seniors that they had permission of faculty member concerned for watching the film, the seniors physically assaulted them.