Denied branded chair of choice, VC of Haridwar University sits on floor in protest

HARIDWAR: The vice-chancellor (VC) of an Uttarakhand university is staging a sit-in because he can’t sit in the chair he wants.
Over the past few days, a mattress laid on the floor of his office has served as the official seat of Uttarakhand Sanskrit University VC Peeyush Kant Dixit.
Conducting work while seated on the floor is Dixit’s way of protesting against the university for not giving him a chair of his choice after the previous one broke last month.
Dixit had sought a branded chair worth Rs 60,000 — one he believed, according to a note he wrote on a file sent to the finance department, was “in keeping with the high office of the vice chancellor”.
Replying to the department’s suggestion that a cheaper chair be purchased, he added in the note, “A (brand name) chair will fulfil the needs of quality, comfort and health.”
Speaking to TOI, Dixit said he was not unjustified in pressing for his demand. “...I have clearly explained in my noting on the file why a good-quality chair is needed. For the past one month, in the absence of a chair, I have been using a mattress bought with my own money to conduct my work,” he added.
Dixit said the set-up would continue until he was given the chair of his choice. When the university’s financial controller, Tanzim Ali, was queried about the matter, he said that he had suggested thrift in the purchase of a new chair on account of the institution’s “ailing” financial condition. “At times, we have to borrow money from the student fees fund to pay salaries to the teachers and employees. In view of this, we can hardly afford any extravagance,” he said, adding, “Also, I do not think such costly furniture is used even by the highest officials in the state secretariat.” However, he added, after receiving the VC’s noting, an order had been placed for a chair in keeping with his specifications. “It should be arriving soon,” he added.