The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has grilled some top officials of the Tribhuvan University (TU) for “misusing public property and poor performance in maintaining good governance and academic environment”.
The anti-graft body summoned Rector Gunanidhi Neupane and Registrar Chandramani Poudel at its office in Tangal and inquired about the misuse of TU’s land, continuity of the officials appointed on contract basis and negligence in providing affiliations to medical colleges, among others.
CIAA Secretary Bhagwati Kumar Kafle said they asked the officials to properly utilise the land belonging to the university. “The land of the university is being used by various public and private institutions free of cost,” he said.
University officials were also told to sack the employees appointed on contract basis after the term-expiry date. Thousands of lecturers and administrative officials who were appointed for a short term before the Proficiency Certificate Level was phased out are still drawing salaries from the university.
On February 22 in 2010, the Supreme Court had directed the TU to fire 1,380 lecturers appointed on contract basis and start a new recruitment process if needed.
The CIAA had received a number of complaints regarding malpractices and misuse of public property and state funds at the university. One of the complaints filed at the CIAA has revealed that half of the total lecturers appointed by the university in Morang district receive salary for doing nothing.
CIAA officials said the university was found to have given permission to those medical colleges, which do not have even basic infrastructure and human resources. Janakpur Medical College, for instance, still lacks sufficient infrastructure and Indian lecturers have been appointed to teach students.
The anti-graft body also asked the TU officials not to allow the Free Student Union (FSU) to construct any college building owing to the growing trend of corruption in the FSUs. Registrar Poudel confirmed that they were grilled by the anti-graft body regarding current mismanagement.
“They reminded us of the longstanding problem within the university but we are not in position to resolve all the problems right now as the previous leadership is more responsible than us,” said Poudel.
(Source: The KathmanduPost; News compiled and written by Bhadra Sharma)
