As per the Agriculture and Forest Act 2010 endorsed by parliament on June 17, 2010, the TU has to hand over the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Chitwan, also known as Rampur Agriculture Campus, and the Institute of Forestry Campus (IFC), Hetauda, to UAF. But the TU authorities are reluctant to hand over the property, said AFU officials.
“We held several round of talks with TU officials, including the chancellor and deputy chancellor. During the meetings, they assure us that the property owned by these campuses would be handed over to us. But they haven´t kept their word,” said Kailash Nath Pachurel, vice-chancellor of UAF.
In 2011, Pachurel was appointed vice-chancellor of the newly formed university. Shortly after his appointment, other officials, including a registrar were appointed.
Currently, UAF is running classes for Bachelor of Science in Forestry. But as IAAS has not yet been handed over, UAF is facing problems in formulating its long-term programs, said Pachurel.
As many as 110 students enrolled in the agriculture faculty and 40 in veterinary science for bachelor degree at AFU for this academic session.
Unlike the past academic years, the TU has not enrolled any students at IAAS this time, but 60 students are currently studying at IFC under TU.
According to registrar at UAF Suresh Kanta Ghimire, the TU had agreed to stop enrolling students in IAAS from the current academic year. Likewise, the TU will not enroll students in IFU from the next academic year.
IAAS campus is spread over 400 bighas of land while the IFU is spread over 100 bighas of land.
Pachurel said UAF will seek legal action if TU does not readily hand over the two campuses to the university. The next meeting of the UAF and TU officials has been scheduled for Tuesday next week.
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