The university on Thursday appointed Niroj Pandey as the new registrar against earlier agreement to appoint registrar from among the senior professors of the university. [break]
The agitating professors and staffers protesting the appointment also snatched the key of the Vice-Chancellor (VC) Maheshwar Man Shrestha´s vehicle. They have demanded appointment of Sanjesh Koirala, one the senior most professors of the university, as the new registrar.
On March 15, 2008, then VC Ramawatar Yadav had reached an agreement with the staffers and professors to appoint the new registrar from among the senior professors of the university. The four term of former registrar Rajkumar Thakur had expired two weeks ago.
“We are unhappy as our demands have fallen on deaf ears,” said PU Professor Association Chairman Rupesh Basnet. “We will announce more stringent protests in the days to come if our demands are not addressed on time,” he added.
According to chairman of the union of PU staffers Kukesh Karna, they have also demanded resignation of VC Shrestha and a senate meeting of the university in Biratnagar to resolve the problem. The newly appointed registrar Pandey is not a PU staffer but has served as the registrar of Nepal Engineering Council.
Sources claimed Pandey is a close relative of UCPN (Maoist) leader Haribol Gajurel.
Meanwhile, Madhesi Intellectual Forum padlocked the PU headquarters on Friday for turning a deaf ear to the demands of agitating professors and staffers.
Due to the ongoing protests, PU exams scheduled to start from Sunday last week has also been disrupted.
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