Pic: Bikram RaiSix former Vice Chancellors of various Nepali universities have demanded a parliamentary probe into the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)'s interference in the entrance examination at Kathmandu University (KU).
In a joint statement on Sunday, former Vice Chancellors Mahesh Kumar Upadhyay, Kedar Bhakta Mathema, Kamal Krishna Joshi, Nabin Jung Shah, Govinda Prasad Sharma and Tri Ratna Manandhar demanded that a parliamentary committee investigate the CIAA's role in the post-graduate medical science entrance examination at the KU's School of Medical Sciences.
It has been reported in the media that the CIAA sent a police team, accompanied by 'a panel of experts', to cancel the question paper prepared for the entrance exam scheduled on 28 May. The CIAA's 'experts' prepared new question paper, and the police left the KU premises only after the exam was conducted.
Govinda KC, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), has accused the CIAA Chief Lokman Singh Karki of interfering in the medical sector, including the KU, by overstepping his jurisdiction. KC has threatened to go on a hunger strike from 10 July demanding Karki's impeachment.
In a statement, the CIAA has claimed that it 'only instructed the Nepal Medical Council (NMC) to look into the impartiality of the entrance exam'. The NMC officials have refused to comment publicly on this issue.
The son of one of the members of the Examination Board of the KU had topped the entrance exam 'influenced' by the CIAA. It has cast doubts over impartiality of the exams, say the six former vice chancellors.