President Pratibha Patil has issued a show-cause notice to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), which is in the thick of a controversy over the affairs in the campus, asking it to explain why a meeting of the varsity’s court scheduled for December 19 should not be annulled.

She also directed that the meeting be put on hold till the university’s reply to the show cause notice is received and the decision of the Visitor in this regard is communicated, said the notice issued by HRD Ministry issued on behalf of the President in her capacity as the visitor to AMU.

AMU has been given a fortnight to reply to the notice which noted that the statutory requirement of 35 days of notice for calling the meeting was not fulfilled, said an official statement on Friday.

The development came four days after seven MPs met the President and submitted a memorandum to her seeking postponement of the meeting of the AMU court which is to elect the universitys next Chancellor, Pro Chancellor, Treasurer and six members of the Executive Council.

The memorandum had pointed out that there are more than 45 vacancies in the existing AMU Court and the elections should only be held when the electoral college is complete.

The MPs who met the President included Rashid Alvi, Sharfuddin Shariq, Dharmendra Yadav, Ali Anwar Ansari, Arvind Sharma, Ashaq Ali Tak, V. Hanumant Rao and Wasim Ahmad, former M.P and a member of AMU Court.

The memorandum submitted by them with the signature of 137 MPS of different political parties, had also alleged the date of December 19 had been “deliberately chosen by the AMU Vice Chancellor” to manipulate the elections of the AMU Court taking advantage of the absence of large number of MPs on that day.

Many of these MPs would be busy with the plenary session of AICC being held in Delhi between December 18 and 20.

AMU Vice Chancellor P.K. Abdul Aziz and senior AMU officials are facing inquiries for their alleged involvement in financial irregularities.