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Kathmandu, August 5. The controversy over the appointment of the head of the Central Sociology Department at Tribhuvan University has reached a climax.
Vidya Bhattarai, the Minister of Education, Science and Technology and the Vice-Chancellor of the university, issued an appeal through social media, asking the Home Minister to provide security arrangements for the university officials.
“The entire university has become unsafe as TU has been trying to attack officials and threaten professors by calling them,” Minister Bhattarai wrote on Facebook and X on Wednesday morning. “I strongly request the Home Minister to make systematic arrangements for the security of TU.”
“No one is allowed to commit hooliganism. I also seriously request the Ministry of Home Affairs to take legal action against those involved in such activities,” she wrote.
Although Minister Bhattarai did not reveal details of the threat, university sources said university officials were under pressure and threats over the appointment of the head of the central sociology department.
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The department has started the process of appointing the department head before the term of the department head, Prof. Dr. Yuvraj Luintel, ends. Director Luintel, whose term ends on July 32, 2081, sent the list of department heads in the first week of July as per the procedure. Pasang Sherpa, Tikaram Gautam and Manhari Dhakal were recommended as the first, second and third names respectively.
However, the controversy started when Professor Dr. Kusum Shakya, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, recommended the name of Gautam, who was No. 2, to No. 1. Dean Shakya, a faculty organization close to UML, came under pressure from the Nepal Association of Progressive Professors not to change the system of appointing department heads on the basis of seniority and to correct the recommendation.
However, Dean Shakya replied that the details had been sent to the president’s office and the official had the right to make a decision, so the answer could be correct. The Progressive Professors Association protested that Dean Shakya listed Gautam, who has close ties with the Nepali Congress, as the first out of political bias.
According to sources close to officials, the Higher Education University executive committee meeting will be held on Friday and preparations are being made for the decision.
Following the constant threats to the officials, Theti University Registrar Prof. Dr. Kedar Prasad Rizal on Friday wrote to the Education Minister asking him to make necessary security arrangements. In his letter, he made a request to the Minister to make security arrangements in the offices and residences of the officials of the Higher Education University.
The letter said: “Due to the prevailing situation at Tribhuvan University, the security system of the university officials and the central office complex, Kirtipur has become challenging and insecurity is increasing. “The Vice-Chancellor, Director of Education, Registrar’s Private Residence and the officials of the central office complex at Kirtipur respectfully request to make necessary arrangements for my safety.
Although the ministry said it would “forward” the letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday, the letter is stuck at the Ministry of Education. However, Minister Bhattarai said they are constantly coordinating to ensure the safety of the officials of the University III. In an interview with Habar Online, Minister Bhattarai said she has been coordinating with Prime Minister and CM K K Sharma Oli and Home Minister Ramesh Oli for five consecutive days.
She said: “I have coordinated with the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister for five consecutive days. However, thinking that this was not enough, I wrote maturely, but the threats from those people did not stop. It did not stop after that, and I made a public appeal. This is not an appeal to the government, it is an appeal to the public, it is an appeal to the common people.
According to sources in the Dean’s Office, the Vice-Chancellor’s Office has asked the Dean for an explanation after sending the name of the associate professor in the second number to the first number. However, the source said no response has been received from the Dean’s Office. However, the Education Minister’s call on Wednesday shows that the pressure and threats to make appointments based on the list of the Dean’s Office are still continuing.
Gautam has been involved in controversies many times
After Tikaram Gautam, who was recommended as the number two by the department, was recommended as the number one by the dean’s office, Associate Professor Gautam was once again dragged into the controversy over the appointment of the department head. Previously, Prada Yuvraj Luintel was also involved in controversy when he took office.
Gautam, who served as acting chancellor for more than a year, was accused by the then vice chancellor of hiding secrets. A few months before the term of then head of department Professor Tulsi Ram Pandey ended, then vice chancellor Professor Tirtha Khanian forced the head of department Pandey to resign and appointed Gautam as acting head of department in June 2076.
At that time, when Gautam started to run for full-time leadership, the teachers and professors of the department were divided. Although both were associate professors at the time, some felt that Gautam Luintel should be the department head because he was Luintel’s student, while others felt that Gautam Luintel should be the department head. Since Gautam was still an associate professor and assistant, he served as the department head throughout the semester.
But if it is by seniority, then Prof. Surendra Mishra is the head of the department. This issue has been controversial for a long time. In response to this controversy, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Dharmakant Baskota, introduced the procedure for appointing heads of central departments by seniority. According to the procedure, Prof. Dr. Yuvraj Luintel is the head of the department.
So, after Gautam was not appointed, Hari Acharya and Yogendra Rawal group of the Navy Association sealed the department with various excuses, demanding Gautam’s appointment. After about three months without opening the lock, the teachers raised the voice that the department should be opened even if the lock was opened.
The group said Associate Professor Prem Chune fatally attacked him because he raised his voice and demanded the lock be opened. The driver lodged a complaint.
The Kathmandu District Court also convicted Acharya, Rawal and five others in the attack, but they appealed to the High Court, so the case is still pending.
However, Gautam said he came to know that the Dean’s Office recommended his name as the first number only after reading in the news. “The department does not make recommendations by asking and the same is true for the Dean’s Office,” he said. “I came to know about it by reading in the news. I don’t know anything more.”
The bullying group is already very old
While Education Minister Bhattarai has questioned the groups that have been threatening universities with intimidation issues in the past, officials have not revealed who has threatened whom.
But according to official sources at the university, threats and messages have been sent from different numbers. The verbal and written threats were so serious that it was mentioned that they would be “rectified”.
The police authorities will conduct an effective investigation so that those who made the threats can be easily found. Because from the detailed content of the text messages he sent and the phone calls he made, it is easy to find out. According to an employee close to the university officials, “It is easy to know that the people of the old group and those around them are involved in this work.”
The executive committee meeting on Friday was set to decide on the appointment of the head of the department. Therefore, the teachers and staff of the department were ready to welcome the new head of the department on Sunday. However, a teacher of the department said that he was informed on Wednesday that the meeting could not be held due to pressure and threats.
According to him, the Rawal cell of the Naval Association was actively promoting Gautam as the head of the department. He said they were the ones who threatened the officials. However, he said there was no need for the officials to stay at home due to threats from the Rawal group.
He claimed that the concerns of university officials were unnecessary. He said yes, some people, including Rawal, had threatened them, but they should not have panicked and stayed home but should have filed a complaint. They were a bit scared.
He said that according to the current procedure, the executive committee can correct the mistakes of the dean and therefore the decision should be taken. “If he is so scared, then the outgoing head of the sociology department, Prof. Dr. Yuvraj Luinthur, should leave Kathmandu and go away,” he said. It looks like it has more emphasis on gangster tendencies.
Professor Madhusudan Subedi said officials should make clear and transparent decisions in accordance with the law. “Why should they be pressured or threatened by others?” he said. “It should be made transparent in a language that everyone can understand. The department heads make decisions based on this arrangement.”
He said the university should not be affected by anyone’s political bias as the current conflict was clearly between the ML and the Congress.
The university’s campus union issued a statement accusing university officials of engaging in unbridled propaganda to cover up their incompetence.
“It is regrettable that officials will resort to rampant propaganda to cover up their academic and administrative incompetence by gathering too many policemen on the university campus and making it look like a battlefield,” Shyamraj Ojha, president of Svaview University, said in a statement.
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