Members of the teachers’ union of Laxmi Narayan Dubey (LND) College on Monday did not allow the principal to enter his official chamber in protest against shortage of chairs in the institute.

Birendra Kumar, the secretary of the college teachers’ union, said: “Teachers of the institution have been facing a lot of difficulties because of inadequate chairs for over a year. Till date, the principal has refused to take notice of the problem.”

Members of the teachers’ union held a meeting on Monday and decided to prohibit principal Virendra Prasad Singh’s entry into his official chamber “till he provides an adequate number of chairs for teachers in the college”.

Last Friday, the union had set a two-day deadline for Singh to resolve the crisis.

Kumar said: “The purchase committee of the college had given a proposal to the principal for purchase of 52 steel chairs, four almirahs and a generator set in mid-2011. But the principal rejected the proposal because it involved buying branded furniture and not stuff made locally. We think that he had some vested interest buying furniture made locally.”

The teachers have resol-ved not to boycott classes in the interest of the students.

A senior teacher of the college, Ram Ekbal Tewari, who is also the district secretary of the teachers’ union and the former senator of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, told The Telegraph: “The principal of the college is facing several charges of financial irregularities. More than a dozen complaints have been submitted against him in the university but it is surprising how no action has been initiated against him.”

Charging the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University officials of being in collusion with the college principal, Tewari added: “It is surprising how a principal like him, who was found guilty of committing financial irregularities by a probe team of the university headed by the College Development Committee co-ordinator, Upendra Mishra, and proctor Ashok Kumar Shrivastava, was cleared of the charges with only a warning.”

Despite repeated attempts, the college principal did not respond to phone calls.

The vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Bimal Kumar, confirmed the incident in the college.

Terming the incident as unfortunate, the vice-chancellor said: “I would get the circumstances leading to such an incident probed by a team of university officials in a day or two.”