Agartala: Following a two-month-long tussle between the university management and the employees, authorities at Tripura's ICFAI University on Tuesday ordered closed the varsity for an indefinite period.

The Hyderabad-based ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education had established the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) University in Tripura in 2004 with the approval of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

"ICFAI registrar Snehalata Behura issued a notification closing down the academic and official activity of the university for an indefinite period. The management has been forced to take the decision in view of the two-month long battle between the management and the employees," said a university official.

The standoff at the private university at Kamalghat, 25 km west of here, began with the dismissal of 19 employees, including 12 faculties, early last month.

As the uncertainty continued, university Vice Chancellor R.K. Patnaik and the Pro Vice Chancellor J.J. Kawle have recently resigned from their posts.

The Tripura government has on a number of occasions asked the ICFAI university authorities to resume the normal functioning of the educational institution but all efforts seem to have been in vain.

Tripura higher education department secretary Kishore Ambuly said: "The state government took a strong note of the situation and asked the ICFAI authorities to resume normal class work and other official activity at the earliest and to create a conducive working environment.

"No positive response from the ICFAI university has been received so far. We are exploring the legal option against the university management," the official said.

Currently, the ICFAI University has 180 teaching and non-teaching employees and nearly 1,100 students. IANS