Patna: Tension has been brewing at Mahatma Gandhi Central University (MGCU) in Motihari for the past fortnight with its teaching faculty on strike. On Friday, a clash broke out between the striking teachers and those opposing it.

Police personnel were deployed at the varsity headquarters at Zila School - the transit campus of the varsity in Motihari - 160km northwest of Patna. Sources said no was injured in the incident as police contained the situation.

The teachers, under the banner of Mahatma Gandhi Central University Teachers' Association, have alleged that the varsity is harassing them and implicating them. The teachers are on a relay hunger strike.

The teachers' agitation started on May 29. Zoology teacher Boudhi Prakash Jain had applied for a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the university after applying for a teaching job at a university in Rajasthan. Sources said the university refused to give Jain an NoC, citing central government employment rules that bar an employee working in a central institution from applying in other central government institutions. The university showcaused Jain.

Shyam Nandan Prasad, a teacher at the university, said: "MGCU is an autonomous institution and there is no rule that a teacher working at any university can't apply to other university. The VC is harassing teachers on the pretext of central government rules."

However, the VC said: "On May 1, I got a letter from the University Grants Commission, clearly stating that the service conditions of central government employees are applicable to permanent staff of central universities too. The teacher has violated the central government rules as he applied to a Rajasthan university without getting the NoC."

The teachers' employee association claimed that apart from not providing the NoC to the teacher, the varsity is violating the roster reservation policy in appointments of non-teaching staff.

Prasad said: "In 2017, 52 posts of non-teaching employees were advertised but in the appointments no reservation was given to SC/ST candidates. Also the varsity is yet to set up a SC/ST cell which is violation of government directive."

The teachers' strike has not affected academic activities. They have submitted a memorandum to the President over their demands.