A photograph of Dalit professor V Ravi Varma seated on the floor with his legs folded at Sri Venkateshwara Veterinary University’s Dairy Technology department blew up on social media on June 20. Prof Varma, who had been working at Tirupati’s SV University for nearly two decades, was protesting as his chair had been removed from his office by Associate Dean Ravindra Reddy.
The chair was installed in Prof Varma’s cabin on June 12. Exactly a week later, Associate Dean Ravindra Reddy removed it from his office, claiming that it belonged to another department. The incident took place when Prof Varma went on leave on June 19.
A video of a staff meeting after the incident that TNM accessed shows the Dairy Technology’s Head of Department, Vijaya Geetha, seated next to Varma, discussing how the incident unfolded.
“When I came to the office on the morning of June 20, I noticed that there was no chair in Prof Varma’s office. I realised he needed a chair and ensured that a regular chair was placed in his cabin,” she said, emphasising the fact that the chair was different from those normally given to professors.
The incident is not a simple case of office supplies being mismanaged. Sources at SV University TNM spoke to said that it was a clear case of caste-based discrimination, as Ravindra Reddy had not barged into anyone else’s office. Prof Varma, who is working on a contract, is paid a lesser salary than his permanent colleagues, despite fulfilling the same duties as them.
“It is extremely humiliating for a person, especially a member of the faculty, to have someone barge into their office and take their chair away. At the very least, they could have replaced the revolving chair meant for professors with a regular chair, but they didn’t,” Vijaya Geetha can be seen stating in the staff meeting video.
In response to the blatant casteism, Varma sat on the floor of his office in protest. When TNM contacted him for a statement, he said that he had not been given permission from SV University’s administration to speak to the media.
TNM also reached out to the University’s registrar-in-charge, Sri Latha. “We don’t directly allow professors to speak to the media. They need either the Dean’s permission or permission from other University officials,” she added.
A person working at SV University told TNM this is not the first time the actions of Ravindra Reddy have resulted in a complaint. A show cause notice had been issued to him earlier for violating the University’s code of conduct in another matter.
Registrar Sri Latha also added that Dr Varma’s chair being taken away was just a miscommunication. “The Vice Chancellor has resolved the issue for now, and a committee has been appointed to probe the matter. The issue will be resolved within a couple of days,” she said.
At the time of writing this article, Ravinder Reddy had not replaced Varma’s chair. However, TNM has learnt that the Department HoD has purchased a new chair for Varma.