Upping the ante, the students’ body at National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) in Kolkata on Sunday gave October 31 deadline for its Vice-Chancellor Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti to resign, saying their concerns went beyond the recent sexual harassment allegations, and cited “serious academic and infrastructural deficiencies, erosion of academic rigor, and lack of financial transparency” since his appointment.The deadline was given hours after the students withdrew their night-long gherao of the vice-chancellor on Sunday morning. After exiting the university’s Salt Lake campus on Sunday morning, following the night-long gherao by students, Chakrabarti, in a statement, said the complaint against him was “false, vexatious, and vindictive.”In a statement issued on Sunday evening, the NUJS students’ body said that while their protest has been “temporarily” called off, their concerns went beyond the recent sexual harassment allegations. “Our protest was not limited to the recent sexual harassment allegations, but also to the serious academic and infrastructural deficiencies, the erosion of academic rigor, and the lack of financial transparency that we have witnessed since the Vice Chancellor’s appointment,” the statement read.According to sources, the students handed over a letter with their demands before the V-C walked out of the campus early Sunday morning. According to one student, the gherao continued until 3 am, after which there was a brief break. From 4 am onward, students and faculty members celebrated Mahalaya, which marks the beginning of the Durga Puja festival.“Around 6:30 am, discussions were held between the Vice-Chancellor, senior faculty members, and student representatives. During these talks, the V-C asked us to provide a list of concerns and demands, which the students compiled within an hour – a non-exhaustive list of 47 demands spanning infrastructure, academics, and finance,” the student’s body said, noting that their list of demands could have been longer with more time.According to the students’ body, the V-C has been given an ultimatum to resign by October 31 or else they will begin a full scale protest will start from November. “We served the Vice-Chancellor with an ultimatum : unless he resigns or a new Vice-Chancellor is appointed by the search committee by October 31, 2025, we will launch a full-scale, indefinite protest starting in November, which will continue with full intensity until his resignation or replacement. The Vice-Chancellor unfortunately refused to accept this ultimatum, but we remain firmly committed to it,” it said.However, they made it clear that any further action would depend on the administration’s response to their concerns and the V-C’s resignation.Story continues below this adThe protests came nearly a week after the Supreme Court, while dismissing an appeal made by a faculty member, alleging harassment between 2019 and April 2023, said that the judgment should be made part of the resume of the V-C.The V-C, in a statement to The Indian Express on Sunday, said the complaint against him was “false, vexatious, and vindictive.”“The complaint under POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act) had been dismissed by the local committee on the grounds of limitation. The Division Bench of Calcutta High Court has also upheld the decision of the LC. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has also upheld the decision of the Division bench of Calcutta High Court,” Prof Chakrabarti said in a statement.“The complaint against me is false, vexatious, and vindictive. Even the Hon’ble Supreme Court has observed in para 30 that the complaint was filed in retaliation on 26.12.2023, immediately after the Executive Council meeting on 21.12. 2023, which had resolved to inquire into diverse acts of misconduct on part of the complainant,” he added.Story continues below this adHe further stated, “However, certain observations are made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court without any inquiry on merits, without testing of evidence, and without an opportunity of hearing. So, our legal team is availing legal remedies as are available to us under the law. The judicial remedies are under process. I have utmost respect for the Hon’ble Supreme Court and I’m confident that the truth shall ultimately triumph. Hence, students’ demand for resignation due to court remarks is unjust.”After an internal complaints committee initially rejected the faculty member’s complaint due to the statutory three-month filing limit, the complainant moved the Calcutta High Court, and the matter later reached the Supreme Court.Last year, a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court directed the internal complaints committee to re-examine the complaint lodged by the faculty member. Later, in December last year, on appeal, the high court reversed its decision, upholding the dismissal of the sexual harassment complaint as it was not filed within the statutory three-month time limit.On Saturday, an executive council meeting was held on the law university campus, during which several students staged a protest in front of Supreme Court Justice Dipankar Dutta and State Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya. The students held up posters which read, ‘I do not accept this V-C…’ and wrote ‘Remove V-C’.