Bhubaneswar: Students gheraoed the office of the vice-chancellor of Utkal University on Wednesday in protest against the authorities' decision to form a students' council instead of holding students' union elections.

A notice issued by the university's postgraduate council recently asked all the heads of departments to forward the name of one student representative each to ensure smooth conduct of students' activities in the field of culture, sports, debate and so on.

Some students are opposing the decision as they say it is "politically motivated and will promote favouritism by the university authorities".

"The authorities should have discussed the matter with all groups of students and taken us into confidence before announcing about the formation of the students' council. We do not have any problem if it is an apolitical body. But, we are going to protest it if it is formed to satisfy a particular group," said a student.

The students' union election at the varsity was called off this year following violence on the campus. A number of students have been demanding election after the varsity reopened recently after it was closed for an indefinite period. The vice-chancellor also sat on a daylong hunger protest urging the students to bring normalcy on the campus.

Official sources said the final decision regarding the rules and guidelines for formation of the students' council would be decided in a meeting scheduled on October 26. "We will not conduct elections again. But, we are looking for alternatives," said VC Soumendra Mohan Patnaik.

In another development, some students of the Biju Patnaik University of Technology were arrested and forwarded to court on Wednesday for creating the ruckus at the residence of technical education secretary Sanjay Singh on Tuesday.

But, the students of various engineering colleges affiliated to BPUT on Wednesday continued to stage protests demanding shifting of their exam dates.