230 NLUJA Assam Guwahati students have resorted to an indefinite hunger strike after their boycott of classes and the mid-semester exams went unregistered at the law school, imperilling their attendance and exam percentage.

The lack of a “positive response”, to the boycott, started last week, from the administration, had left them “apprehensive about the marks to be assigned to each paper on account of the mid semester exams and the regular attendance of the students in the semester classes”, they wrote in a letter to the chancellor.

The students had boycotted classes and exams in protest against the absence of permanent faculty for specialist subjects, which they were still expected to write exams in, a permanent campus, a student bar association and law journal and a vice chancellor (VC) at NLUJAA.

Yesterday they submitted a letter urging the cancellation of the mid semester exams to NLUJAA chancellor and Gauhati high court chief justice Sreedhar Rao, stating that the nothing yet had been conveyed to them regarding the earlier letter of demands which they had submitted to the acting vice chancellor.

The city police was at the gates of the law school yesterday.

NLUJAA has been functioning without a VC for over four months now. Legally India understands from sources close to the process that the initial search committee to select the new VC was disbanded after it had shortlisted five candidates, and a new search committee was formed headed by Supreme Court justice Ranjan Gogoi and with Guwahati high court justice Harikesh Singh and former law commission member Mool Chand Sharma. This committee is yet to shortlist candidates.

NLUJAA’s administrative staff has not been reachable for comment by phone over the last two weeks.