Dr SM Imamul Huq, vice chancellor (VC) of Barishal University (BU), has been granted 46 days leave from April 11 to the end of his tenure on May 26.
The VC has been facing 32 days of continuous agitation by students, teachers, and employees of the university demanding his removal.
After news of the leave reached the BU campus on Monday afternoon, protesters hailed the decision as a victory for their peaceful movement.
A letter signed by Habibur Rahman, deputy secretary (public university section of secondary and higher education) of the Education Ministry, confirmed the report.
Until further notice, Barishal University Treasurer Dr AKM Mahbub Hasan will take up additional duties as the acting VC, as per the direction of the Chancellor of universities and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid, the letter said.
BU Registrar Dr Hasinur Rahman said the VC had applied for leave on April 11, and the authorities concerned sanctioned the leave on Monday.
He added that the tenure of Dr SM Imamul Huq as VC will expire on May 26, till which time he has been granted leave.
BU Treasurer and acting VC Dr AKM Mahbub Hasan said he hoped the protests demanding Dr SM Imamul Huq’s removal from the post of VC would now end with the granting of leave, and administrative and academic activities of the university will resume from Tuesday.
Lokman Hossain, a student who led the protests, said: “This was a victory for our peaceful rallies, sit-ins, boycotts, and hunger strikes in the demand of the removal of the corrupt and autocratic VC.”
BU Teachers Association Secretary Abu Zafar Mia said normal academic activities will resume from Tuesday, as their demand for the VC’s removal has been fulfilled.
BU students began protests demanding the removal of the VC on March 27, after Dr SM Imamul Huq at a program said that students who had foiled an Independence Day observation event were “Razakarer Bachcha (the children of traitors).”
Subsequently, the VC declared that BU would be closed until further notice, and asked students to vacate the halls by March 28.
On March 29, the VC apologized for his remark through a statement, but the apology was rejected by students.
On Friday, April 26, a nine-member team led by former BU syndicate member Prof Md Hanif succeeded in convincing students to end a hunger strike, by assuring that the VC would be sent on leave by Monday. A number of students had begun falling ill due to the hunger strike.