Patna, Aug 24 (IANS): Amid an ongoing confrontation between Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar and the state Education Department over the issue of appointment of Vice Chancellors (VCs) in state universities, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday met the Governor.

The exact details of the meeting were not revealed in public but sources have said that Nitish Kumar went there to cool off the clash between the Raj Bhawan and the Education Department.

Nitish Kumar stayed there for half an hour and then returned to his residence.

The conflict was triggered after the Education Department has issued advertisement for recruitment of five VCs. The Raj Bhawan took it as a violation of the Governor's right as he is also holding the post of Chancellor of all universities in the state and has the right to appoint a VC in the university.

The five universities where the appointments are to be made includes KDS Sanskrit University Darbhanga, Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU) Muzaffarpur, Lalit Narayan Mithila University Darbhanga, Patna University Patna and Jay Prakash University Chapra.

Earlier, the Education Department has stopped payment to BRABU Muzaffarpur and also put on hold the salaries of VC and Pro VC, asking the Governor to define "how universities of Bihar are independent institutions if the state government is providing funds to a tune of Rs 4000 crore every year and the money belongs to taxpayers".