KATHMANDU, Aug 4: Seven professors at the Institute of Medicine (IoM) on Thursday registered a writ petition at the Supreme Court demanding annulment of the 'illegal order' issued by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to Tribhuvan University to take action against them.

Dr Bimal Kumar Sinha, Dr Saradraj Onta, Dr Jagadish Prasad Agrawal, Dr Dinesh Binod Pokharel, Dr Madhu Dixit Devkota, Assitant Professor Raj Devi Adhikari and Dr Krishna KC filed the writ petition claiming that the CIAA's decision to write to TU to take action against them allegedly for their 'improper act' is unconstitutional in line with the Constitution of Nepal 2015. They claimed that they were not involved in any 'improper act' and argued that the new constitution has not assigned the CIAA to take action for 'improper act'.

The CIAA had written to the TU to seek clarification from the professors alleging them of their involvement in improper act by allocating more seats for the Gandaki Medical Collage for MBBS and BDS classes without proper verification.

Following the instructions from the CIAA, the TU administration asked them to furnish clarification. Despite submitted their clarification, the administration again asked them for further clarification stating the first one was not satisfactory.

The steps taken by the CIAA and the TU have been criticized by medical experts arguing the moves are an effort to taint the senior professors, who could become the IoM dean on the basis of seniority, and to appoint someone junior and favorable candidate to CIAA Chief Lokman Singh Karki, who has been meddling in medical education since his appointment.