Elgin Road: A delegation of the Presidency Alumni Association met on Sunday historian Sugata Bose, the chief mentor of the university, and raised concerns about "incidents of serious humiliation of well-known teachers" and "large vacancies in prime departments".

The delegation, led by association president Jayanta Mitra, called on Bose at Netaji Bhavan. The former students also complained about the Presidency authorities' alleged indifference to campus heritage.

In a memorandum submitted to Bose, the association has written: "Rajat Kanta Ray, emeritus professor of history, had to face severe humiliation over allocation of his room, which was changed without his knowledge and he had to discontinue coming to the university."

Ray had said in October 2016 that he had been dislodged from his room without notice.

Sources privy to the discussions at the meeting said Prasanta Ray, emeritus professor of sociology at Presidency and a member of the delegation, told Bose that the authorities never sought his opinion on any issue.

When contacted, Ray declined to comment.

Alumni association secretary Bivas Chaudhuri said the memorandum contained a list of teachers who, it said, had to resign after being allegedly humiliated by the authorities.

The list includes the names of Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, a distinguished chair professor in natural sciences who had resigned in July 2015, and Somak Raychaudhury, who had left in August 2015 to become director of Inter University Centre of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.

"The departure (of teachers) discourages bright students from taking admission," Chaudhuri said.

The delegation also flagged the issue of vacant seats. As many as 300 seats in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels have remained vacant this year.

Vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia refused to comment when Metro sought her reaction on the meeting. Bose said: "I have heard the concerns of the alumni. Their suggestions will be incorporated in the sixth report of the mentor group."