Kathmandu, April 9:

Minister for Education and Sports Pradeep Nepal today assured the Tribhuvan University Employees’ Association (TUEA) that the government would appoint vice-chancellor and other staff in the key varsity posts at the earliest.

TUEA members quoted the minister as saying that he would hand over his resignation if he failed to appoint the TU officials on time.

The TUEA had submitted a memorandum to minister Nepal today, demanding immediate appointment of top officials in TU, among others.

The key posts in four government universities — Tribhuvan University, Purbanchal University, Pokhara University and Nepal (Mahendra) Sanskrit University — are lying vacant for the last 11 months. This has badly affected academic activities and annual examinations in the universities.