Koshi Province
PU ‘paralysed’ due to government interference
The PU administration claimed that it could not execute any work except the daily administrative works after Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel sent a letter in MarchAcademic activities in the Biratnagar-based Purbanchal University (PU) have been halted for the past three months due to ‘undue interference’ from the government.
The PU administration claimed that it could not execute any work except the daily administrative works after Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel sent a letter in March, directing the university to not proceed any works unless its executive council got its full shape. The minister also instructed the PU to scrap the appointment of the executive committee members by the university.
There is a longstanding dispute in the PU regarding the appointment of the executive committee members. There are only two members in the executive council due to the differences of opinion between Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is the chancellor of the university, and the Vice-Chancellor Professor Ghanshyam Lal Das.
The two-member executive council appointed Rajesh Jha as the assistant registrar, and Gopal Sharma and Komal Duala as the assistant deans. However, Minister Pokharel, through the letter, directed the university to not implement the decision immediately.
Sources claim that the government exerted pressure on Das, who was appointed as the vice-chancellor of the PU under the Nepali Congress quota, to appoint all three remaining members from the ruling Nepal Communist Party.