Kolkata, Sep 25 (IANS): West Bengal Higher Education Council (HEC) president Sugata Marjit Wednesday resigned, saying he was unable to handle the work pressure and his other commitments were getting affected.

Marjit announced his decision at a joint media meet with state Education Minister Bratya Basu.

An eminent economist, he was roped in by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she came to power to carry out reforms in the higher education system.

"He is very busy. He has lot of other professional and research commitments. We have been discussing this for a long time. Today, he has put in his papers. We decided we should announce it to the media together so there is no confusion," said Basu.

"We are accepting his resignation. We have done a lot of work in introducing educational reforms," said the minister.

Marjit is also the Reserve Bank of India Professor of Industrial Economics at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences (CSSS) here.

He said: "My work at the CSSS requires full-time involvement. At the same time, the nature of work as HEC chief is also very demanding. I can't carry out both these responsibilities together. So, for quite some time, I wanted to quit."

"Also, my foreign travels for research work were getting restricted because of the HEC job," he said.

Marjit, however, categorically denied any differences with the state government. "The freedom that the chief minister and the education minister have given me, the respect they have given me, I will always help them in whatever way I can."

Former Presidency College principal Amol Mukhopadhyay, however, suspected Marjit took the decision due to "interference" by government functionaries in his work.