Kathmandu, November 25

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology today took the initiative to act against 43 individuals, including Tribhuvan University Vice-chancellor Tirtha Raj Khaniya, as per the recommendation made by a high-level National Medical Education Commission led by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki.

An official of the education ministry stated that the ministry had dispatched documents to the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, seeking legal advice on the issue. The Karki commission had accused the TU VC and others of awarding affiliations to medical institutions that had breached the criteria set by the government, universities and the Nepal Medical Council. The commission had also accused them of irregularities and misuse of power.

A document obtained by THT states that Khaniya, TU Rector Sudha Tripathi and Registrar Dilli Upreti illegally gave affiliation to Kathmandu National Medical College. The Karki commission had recommended that they be sacked and rendered ineligible for government services.

The commission had also accused TU Legal Adviser Narayan Khanal of offering wrong advice and recommended that the government make him ineligible for serving as legal adviser to any government or semi-government body.

The commission had also recommended that the government render former TU vice-chancellor Hira Bahadur Maharjan ineligible for appointment in government and semi-government institutions.

It had also told  the government to bar former chief of Bhaktapur  Cancer Hospital Prakash Raj Neupane, former executive director of BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital Chin Bahadur Pun,  former chairman of Nepal Medical Council  Damodar Prasad Gajurel, former NMC registrar Nilmani Upadhyay  and former VC of BPKIHS Balbhadra Das from holding government and semi-government positions.

The commission had told the government to bar  Bharat Jha, Govinda Prasad Sharma, TrilokpatiThapa, KB Raut, Manohar Prasad Gupta, Chandra LalShrestha, HirendramanAmatya, CD Chakla, Shyam Sundar Malla, PannaThapa, Ramesh Prasad Singh, Jagdish Prasad Chataut, Pradhumna Shrestha, Ramesh Kumar Adhikari, RohitShrestha and Ojaswi Nepal from holding government and semi-government positions for five years.

The Karki commission had also recommended that Kabirnath Yogi, Jyoti Sharma, Keshav Prasad Singh, Pramod Kumar Shrestha, Parshu Ram Mishra, Ram Prasad Upreti and Pralhad Panta  be prohibited from holding positions in government and semi-government institutions for three years. Anil Jha, Shashi Sharma, Saroj Shrestha will face such a ban for two years.

The government was told to remove Tara Prasad Sapkota from the post of dean of TU Law Department, Ram Prasad Khatiwada from the post of TU Dean and Rajendra Paudel and Hari Parajuli from TU Executive Council. The government was also told to issue warning letters to Kathmandu University Vice-chancellor Ramkantha Makaju and NMC member Ankur Sah.

The government had formed the commission under Karki to address issues raised by Dr Govinda KC.

The commission had also recommended that the government bar former chief commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Lokman Singh Karki from holding any government office. He was accused of interfering in Kathmandu University affairs, misusing his constitutional authority.