'Shahenshah of Shamirpet' moving heaven and earth to stay in Hyd'bad

Hyderabad: It's a one-of-its-kind story of what happens when academicians develop a longing to hang on to top administrative posts forever.

According to sources, the issue has come to fore following a senior serving faculty member of a Central university in Uttar Pradesh refusing to leave the City of Pearls and wanting to continue to head a higher educational institution in Hyderabad.

"It looks like, if allowed, he wanted to continue for a life-time like Xi Jinping, the president of the People's Republic of China," said a former faculty member, adding, that some call him "Shahenshah of Shamirpet." The reason is that the academician hired multiple cooks and drivers to serve him, a luxury not even the chancellor of the university is accorded, and in violation of the university norms, he alleged.

Some students and faculty members had reportedly shot off complaints and how they are being humiliated which led some faculty members to resign and leave. That apart, a petition has been filed before the State High Court, challenging the consideration of his candidature to head the institution.

Allegations are rife that the senior professor who had served two terms for 10 long years heading the institution, had demitted his office recently. However, he is so far not ready to leave and continues to use his official residence, staff and vehicles of the university.

The "Shahenshah of Shamirpet" had recently gone to his parent university in UP, only to apply for leave once again to come back to Hyderabad. Now, he is shuttling between Delhi and the State capital, desperately pulling very string in his Delhi connections and staging a comeback in Hyderabad. While all his efforts in Hyderabad have gone awry, now, he is trying to get things done from Delhi.