A new event took place in the history of the University of Nepal last Friday. Breaking the past practices and traditions, the newly appointed vice chancellors of three universities took the oath of office and confidentiality before Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

Previously, it was the practice of the Vice-Chancellor to appoint the Vice-Chancellor on the basis of the recommendations made by the Selection and Recommendation Committee and after informing the Vice-Chancellor.

The vice-chancellors of Nepal Sanskrit, Agriculture and Forestry and Pokhara University took oath from the Prime Minister in the capacity of Chancellor at the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, Singha Durbar. On December 7th, Dhaneshwar Nepal in Sanskrit, Sharda Thapalia in Agriculture and Forestry and Vedaraj KC in Pokhara University were appointed vice-chancellors by Oli himself. 

Prime Minister Oli's move to keep the university away from politics seems to be trying to keep it under the umbrella, says Kedar Bhakta Mathema, former vice-chancellor of the university.

"It was seen that they were trying to divide the appointments, convene the Singh Durbar and Baluwatar, administer oaths, and keep the university under the umbrella of the government," he said, "even when the king-maharaja was the chancellor, I did not have to hear and experience this." 

He said that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education should not interfere in other matters of the university except for raising resources and asking for the necessary manpower while supporting the parents. "The university should have its own rule, not that of the lion court. He said, "The oath taken by the Prime Minister was not satisfactory." He suggested that the officials of the university should be made accountable to the Senate. Mathema was the Vice-Chancellor of Trivika in 2049. 

Kamalkrishna Joshi, the former chairman of the University's Grants Commission, said that it was a new matter for the Vice-Chancellor to take oath from the Prime Minister. "There is no legal system for taking oath in any university," he said. He must know what the prime minister is trying to show by taking the oath. We are not happy. Joshi Mathema was also the Vice-Chancellor of TRI.

He said that there is no reason to make the vice-chancellor take oath. "There is no good in the university if there is swearing. The Prime Minister started doing unnecessary work,” he said. Joshi expressed his displeasure saying that appointment of officials including vice-chancellor was arbitrarily called meritocracy. "Meritocracy is just a tooth," he said. 

In these three universities, there have been accusations that the vice-chancellors were selected on the basis of quotas by keeping the marks given in the competition more than the marks given in the competition. It is alleged that the vice-chancellor of Sanskrit University was selected from the agriculture and Pokhara and Congress quotas from the ruling UML quota. The newly appointed vice-chancellors were active in the UML, a Congress-affiliated professors' organization.

Prem Narayan Aryal, the former vice-chancellor of Pokhara University and Professor of Tertiary University, said that it was the first time he had heard of the oath-taking practice. He commented that there is no point in swearing in and out of office to be appointed for a 4-year term.

None of the 20 Vice-Chancellors who have been appointed in the University have taken the oath, while the Sanskrit, Agriculture and Forestry University have also not taken the oath, according to the former officials there. The professors say that such activities will increase the interference of politics and government in the university.

Minister of Education, Science and Technology Vidya Bhattarai says that according to the provisions of the Oath Act 2079, the vice-chancellors have been sworn in.

Even though the law was made, it was not implemented. There is a provision that a person appointed to a public position must take an oath. The university is also a part of the state and a public body. The Act was implemented by administering an oath to the Vice-Chancellors. Unless there is another provision, the law should be followed," she said. The newly appointed vice-chancellors said that they left after being called for the oath by the Prime Minister's Office.  According to the Ministry of Education, the oath was taken according to sub-section 3 of section 3 of the

Act. In the said sub-section of the Act, it is mentioned that 'who has been appointed, elected or nominated to a public position, but if there is no provision in the relevant law to take an oath, the person holding such public position shall take the oath of office and secrecy from the official designated by the Government of Nepal in the format according to the schedule'. Law Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Education Pitambar Bhandari said that according to the same section, the swearing-in program of the Vice-Chancellors was held. 

 But after the promulgation of the said act in August 2079, even though vice-chancellors were appointed in universities such as University of Tertiary, Midwest, Far West and Purvanchal, they were not sworn in. After the Act was promulgated, Congress Chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal also appointed Vice-Chancellors as Chancellors but did not take oath.  Officials of the Ministry of Education say that if the provisions of the