18 Chait, Kathmandu. Tribhuvan University Service Commission is without a chairman since 8 months. On 18th July Prof. After the term of Dr. Lalu Prasad Paudel ended, the commission could not find another chairman.
Kedarnath Dhakal, chairman of the Tertiary Services Commission, says that due to not being able to appoint a chairman, the examinations of lecturers and professors have not been conducted and there has been a delay in opening new advertisements.
Chief Dhakal says that due to lack of advertisements of about 2500 employees, their work is also getting affected. He says that ‘the posts of about twenty five hundred employees are vacant. Complaints have started coming that this is affecting the daily work. It will not happen without the president.
He said that advertisements should also be given to almost the same number of new teachers, but all these works have stopped due to non-appointment of the chairman. An employee says that he had to live without the chairman of the commission for a long time due to lack of political support.
After Poudel’s term ended, the then Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government protested that the controversial figure was trying to make him the chairman of the commission. The Recommendation Committee stated that 36 applications were received in the open application call for the post of Chairman, Service Commission. But after taking the application, the process could not proceed further.
There is a provision in this that the Vice-Chancellor will constitute a recommendation committee in coordination with the Education Minister and will make appointments on the basis of the recommendation of the committee. After the change of chancellor, within a few days of the appointment of the new education minister, the post again fell vacant. Education Secretary Ramakrishna Subedi told that there is nothing new in appointing the chairman in the commission. He says, ‘Now there is a new chancellor. But the process of appointing the chairman in the commission has not progressed further. Nothing new has happened yet.
With the formation of the new government, the coalition also changed. Even the UML-Maoist government did not show any interest for the chairmanship of the commission. Then there is the new coalition government. The present government has also not shown any interest in appointing the chairman of the commission. Dhakal, the chairman of the Service Commission, says that despite informing the executive council and the chancellor of the university about the problem of not having a chairman, the process has not progressed. An employee says that the appointment is getting delayed because the government is being run by people who have the mindset of what should I do instead of making the university better. He says, ‘He is not interested in the state of the university. As long as such corrupt people are in the leadership of the government, not only universities, all institutions will remain like this.
‘Now the Ministry of Education has got a minister. I hope that the Chancellor and the Education Minister will give special priority.
He says that it is surprising that even after 8 months the Tertiary Service Commission has not got the chairman, various unions of professors and employees unions are silent. ‘Work is not going on smoothly due to lack of adequate staff, more than 2000 posts of teachers are vacant at various levels. When this happens, they should also be held responsible. He adds, “But an association formed to do politics does not think about the welfare of the organization.”
But President of Tribhuvan University Teachers Association (TUTA) Prof. Dr. Basant Adhikari says that the former Prime Minister had formed the recommendation committee under everyone’s pressure. He said there is no ground to pressurize as there is no Vice Chancellor to recommend as of now. He says that the absence of a chairman in the Tertiary Service Commission for a long time is causing the university to suffer. He says, ‘It has been 8 months without a President. Teachers and staff will be absent daily, but no new advertisement has come, due to which everyone’s work is being affected, due to which the condition of the university is getting worse. They say that since there has been a long delay in the appointment of the Speaker, the government should proceed with the appointment process on the basis of the application received by the recommendation committee.
SWU’s newly elected president Shyamraj Ojha says that the process has not progressed despite the appointment of the chairman of the Tertiary Service Commission on the basis of merit and capability. He says, ‘It is expected that the chancellor and the incoming education minister will give priority to the work. After our appointment, we will press more strongly for the appointment of qualified people as soon as possible as an action plan.
Vice Chancellor of Trivika Prof. Dr. Dharmakant Baskota says that the examinations of teachers and employees, which were postponed due to the absence of the chairman, have been stopped and all the work of new advertisement has been stopped. He says that he repeatedly requested the Chancellor (Prime Minister) to appoint the President, ‘I informed him about this in the beginning after the new Chancellor came. In between, when the Education Minister came for a few days, I requested both of them to appoint the Chairman of the Service Commission as soon as possible. Even after the post of Education Minister was vacant, I once informed the Vice-Chancellor about this.
He expressed hope that since the Ministry of Education has got a minister on Friday itself, now the Chancellor and the Education Minister will take forward the process of appointing the chairman of tertiary services with special priority. ‘Now the Ministry of Education has got a minister. I hope that the Chancellor and the Education Minister will give special priority.