KATHMANDU, Jan 11: The Special Court on Monday acquitted Mid-western University Vice-Chancellor Padam Lal Devkota and eight others in a corruption case but convicted Registrar Thakendra Giri and six other officials of the Surkhet-based university.
A bench of judges Bhupendra Prasad Rai, Pawan Kumar Sharma and Narendra Kumar Siwakoti convicted Registrar Giri as well as varsity officials Sudan Gauli, Ganesh Bahadur Rawat, Paras Mani Giri, Jeevan Kumar Thapa, Gagan Singh Bohara and Kamal KC.
The court has given a jail term of one year and nine months to Registrar Giri and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 682,000. Likewise, the court has given seven months jail to Gauli, Rawat, and KC while Paras Mani Giri, Thapa and Bohara have been sentenced to six months jail. The court has also fined Gauli Rs 317000, Rawat Rs 293,000 and KC Rs 273,000, while Paras Mani Giri has been ordered to pay Rs 178,000, Bohara Rs 158,000 and Thapa Rs 106,000 as fines.
On August 25, 2014, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a corruption case against 16 officials of the university including Vice-Chancellor Devkota on the charge of embezzling university funds.
The court, however, acquitted, VC Devkota; dean of Science and Technology faculty Dr Keshar Singh Rana; Midwestern University Service Commission member Dr Shreeram Prasad Upadhyaya; dean of Management Faculty Dr Masta Bahadur Garamja; dean of Humanities and Sociology faculty Pitamber Dhakal; dean of Engineering faculty Ram Chandra Aryal; dean of Education Science faculty Lalmani Acharya; and Vice-Principal Ganesh Bahadur Rawat.
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