Thackeray who is also the former Vice-Chancellor of the North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, retired from service on April 30 and relinquished charge head of the maths department. Thackeray however felt ``insulted'' when he learnt that Joshi had reportedly asked the university administration to be present during the formal handing over charge ceremony.

When contacted, Thackeray said that there was no reason for the assistant registrar and the deputy registrar to be present. ``I felt insulted,'' Thackeray derided adding that only the Vice-Chancellor can give such directives and not the university administration.

However, highly-placed sources pointed out that Thackeray who was supposed to hand over charge to Joshi had not done so by 6 pm and was not present in the department after 4 pm, which prompted the university administration's representatives to be present while Joshi took charge. However the department's several rooms were sealed with the result that examinations on May 2 would have been in jeopardy had the staff member who was the custodian of the question papers not handed over the keys.

While Friday was a holiday, sources pointed out that regular employees of the department were debarred from entering. When contacted, Joshi preferred not to comment while stressing that he was only interested in building an ``academic'' atmosphere in the department. Vice-Chancellor Dr Arun Nigavekar was unavailable for comment as he was not in Pune.