Jadavpur: Education minister Partha Chatterjee asked students of Jadavpur University on Wednesday to share their concerns on campus polls with him, the appeal coming in the wake of a 31-hour gherao of vice-chancellor Suranjan Das.

A large number of students kept Das and others confined from 4pm on Monday till 1.30am on Wednesday, demanding that the university reject the government order declaring students' unions apolitical and announce the dates of campus elections.

The students raised slogans against the West Bengal College and Universities (Administration and Regulations) Act, which, apart from declaring the unions apolitical, enjoins the authorities to appoint teachers as office-bearers of the students' councils.

"Let them come and talk to me on the issue of campus elections. I held talks with them earlier. If I can do anything for them that is permissible by the act, I will do. I can't violate the act. I am also requesting the university to draw up its statute at the earliest," Chatterjee said.

During the day, the university held talks with all stakeholders, including student representatives, on the possible implications of the act on the campus elections.

The gherao was lifted after VC Das had assured the students that the opinions emerging from the meeting of the stakeholders would be conveyed to the government.

Debraj Debnath, the general secretary of the arts faculty students' union, said most participants at the meeting opined that the laws framed under the act were undemocratic as they replaced the students' union with a students' council, which would have teachers among its office-bearers.

"We want the union to remain. Teachers should not be made office-bearers as they cannot appreciate the demands of the students. Also, we are opposed to the St Xavier's model of having an apolitical students' body," Debnath said.

A JU official said the Trinamul-backed teachers who attended the meeting spoke in favour of the act.

The resolution drawn up at the end of the meeting, presided over by vice-chancellor Asish Kumar Verma, called the act an affront to the university's autonomy.

Another meeting of the stakeholders will be held on January 19.

Vice-chancellor Das and the other pro-VC, Pradip Ghosh, could not attend the meeting as they had not been keeping well following the confinement, acting registrar Partha Pratim Lahiri said.

"Students want the union to continue. Another meeting of the forum will be held. Let a comprehensive opinion emerge, which will then be forwarded to the vice-chancellor," Verma said.