"In this circumstances, we are going to serve a second notice to the university authorities and ask the police to enforce the government directive to stop demolition of the building," said KAM Haroon, chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).

The chairman has already instructed the authorised officer concerned to initiate legal action to enforce the government directive to the university authorities.

"Considering gravity of the issue, we forwarded a copy of the first notice to the police," Authorised Officer Nurul Islam said yesterday. "We will file a General Diary (GD) with the police tomorrow (Sunday) so that the police stop unauthorised activities there. We will also serve a second notice on the university authorities."

Rajuk Chief Engineer Emdadul Islam said, "As per Bangladesh National Building Code, one must obtain prior approval from the Rajuk for any demolition, construction and any kind of modification of any buildings including government establishments."

Second Officer of Kotwali Police Station Saidur Rahman said, "We have not yet taken any actions but I will look into the matter and find what actions we can take."

Such defiance by the authorities of a public university should be considered as a serious matter by the Urban Development Committee, said Prof Nazrul Islam, a member of the said committee and honorary chairman of Centre for Urban Study.

The public works secretary, who is nominated as chairman of the committee, should convene a meeting of the committee to discuss such defiance that becomes bad precedent when shown by a government institution, said Prof Islam.

Rajuk served the first notice on November 23 directing the JNU authorities to stop immediately the demolition of the age-old building within its premises and obtain approval for any new constructions.

Violations of the Building Construction Act of 1952, Bangladesh National Building Code of 1993 and Metropolitan Building Construction Rules of 2006 and Town Improvement Act of 1953 by the JNU authorities prompted Rajuk to go for legal actions, according to Rajuk officials.

"We served the notice to the vice-chancellor of the university to stop the demolition work and obtain plan approval," the Rajuk chairman told this correspondent earlier.

Contacted for his version, the JNU vice-chancellor and project director of Establishment of Jagannath University Project (EJUP) Prof Sirajul Islam Khan said on November 25, "I will not answer to any of your questions. You can, if you like, write that I refused to answer any questions from you."