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IoM asst deans refuse to assume office
The assistant deans of the Institute of Medicine (IoM) have not assumed office, saying their appointment letters have mentioned “ambiguous office term”.The assistant deans of the Institute of Medicine (IoM) have not assumed office, saying their appointment letters have mentioned “ambiguous office term”.
Although the term of the assistant deans is of four years, the appointment letters issued to the officials state that they are given the “responsibility” until “next decision”.
Dr Dwarika Shrestha, Dr Rajendra Guragain, Dr Madhu Devkota and Mandira Pant were appointed assistant deans at the IoM on Monday, the day Dr Govinda KC began his fast-unto-death, for an 11th time.
The hasty appointments were apparently aimed at pacifying the agitating doctor. But that move did precious little to make Dr KC backtrack on his hunger strike decision.
Dr Jagdish Prasad Agrawal, the IoM dean, said the appointed officials were yet to assume office.
The officials said the ambiguous term in their appointment letters would mean they could be easily removed or replaced through another decision by Tribhuvan University. Even Dr KC, whose hunger strike entered the third day on Wednesday, has stated that the assistant deans should be given a four-year term appointment.
“We really want to work as assistant deans. But the current appointment states that we are given this responsibility until another decision. This clearly means that we are appointed just to run day-to-day affairs and we cannot work on long-term plans and won’t be able to take vital decisions,” said Dr Guragain. “This clearly undermines our decades of service and experience. We are not running away from our responsibilities but our appointment must be for a four-year term.”
All the officials had also expressed their reservations about their appointments to the dean.
All of the four appointed officials were recommended by IoM Dean Agrawal.
Interestingly, Dr Pratap Narayan Prasad, who was also appointed the chief of the Maharajung Campus of IoM along with the appointment of four deans, has been given a full four-year term.
A source at IoM’s Office of the Dean said that the way the four assistant deans were appointed shows ill intention of the TU, as the move was made only to halt Dr KC’s hunger strike plan.
“This is a real short-sightedness on the part of the TU,” said the source.
Office bearers of TU were not available for comments despite repeated attempts.