After a dispute in the committee formed to recommend the VC of KU, coordinator Sureshraj Sharma separately and members Arjun Karki and Janardhan Nepal separately recommended 3/3 names, the Prime Minister chose Wagle.
The government has appointed Achyut Wagle as Vice Chancellor of Kathmandu University (KU) and Deepak Thapa as Inspector General of Police.
After a long tussle, Chancellor of the University and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli appointed Wagle as the Vice-Chancellor on Monday. Thapa got the leadership of Nepal Police from the decision of the cabinet meeting held on Monday evening.
Wagle, who has been in charge of the registrar since October 2, 2079, was acting vice-chancellor since January 4. The then chancellor Sher Bahadur Deuba appointed him as registrar two and a half years ago. Wagle, an economic-political analyst, has become the fourth vice-chancellor at KU. Bhola Thapa was the Vice-Chancellor till January 4.
He has a master's degree in economics from Tribhuvan University and the University of Birmingham in the UK and has a PhD in economics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur in India. Wagle will reach the Vice-Chancellor's office in Dhulikhel on Tuesday and take charge. The tenure of the Vice-Chancellor is 4 years.
With Wagle's new appointment, the post of registrar has become vacant at KU. The Prime Minister appoints the Registrar on the recommendation of the Vice-Chancellor. Due to the controversy and delay in the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor, even the KU Executive Council has not been able to complete.
KU Assembly formed a committee under the coordination of Founder Vice-Chancellor Suresh Raj Sharma for Vice-Chancellor search and recommendation. Dr. Arjun Karki, former vice-chancellor of Patan Institute of Health Sciences and Janardan, former secretary, were members of the Nepal Committee. There was a dispute for a month after the
committee could not recommend the names of 3 people. On Friday, Sharma recommended 3 names from his side. Similarly, Karki and Nepal recommended the names of 3 people on Monday. Chancellor Oli has decided to appoint Wagle after receiving a separate recommendation.
20 professors applied when the recommendation committee issued a procedure to appoint the vice chancellor on the basis of competition. 10 people were 'shortlisted' after evaluating out of 30 points.
Along with Wagle, former Vice-Chancellor Bhola Thapa, former Registrar Subodh Sharma, former Dean Rajendra Koju, former Dean Kanhaiya Jha, Dean Janardhan Lamichhane, Dean Balchandra Luintel, Professor Vedamani Dahal, Shyam Narayan Lab and Vibhutiranjan Jha were among them. They were interviewed in the first week of February with 70 full marks along with the evaluation of the action plan and thinking paper. But the committee failed to recommend 3 names. After Prime Minister Oli instructed to submit the report up to where the process has reached, separate reports and recommendations were made.
Uncontroversial appointment in the police
The leadership of the Nepal Police, which is always subject to political tussles, has been chosen without controversy this time. The Council of Ministers meeting has decided to promote Additional Inspector General of Police Deepak Thapa, who is number 1 in rank, seniority, efficiency and performance, to Inspector General (IGP). Thapa earlier headed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CIB).
IGP Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, who entered the police service as an inspector on 5 March 2051, retired on Monday due to 30 years of service, and Thapa was given the leadership of the police organization. Sudip Giri, Head of National Training Institute and Tek Bahadur Tamang, Head of Kathmandu Valley Police Office, Ranipokhari, were also in the race for Inspector General. Giri was number 2 and Tamang was number 3 in the roster, which is divided on the basis of rank, seniority, efficiency and performance.
Thapa is the 31st IGP of the Nepal Police which was established in March 2007. Thapa will command about 90,000 troops for about 6 months if the police law does not change.
Newly appointed IGP Thapa is a resident of Bhaktapur. Born on 8th November 2028 at Suryavinayak-8, Sipadol, he has done LLB in Law, MA in Political Science and MPA in Public Administration. He was a teacher before joining the police service.
Thapa joined the police service on 19 August 2052 as a police inspector. Deputy Superintendent of Police on 8th August 2063, Superintendent of Police on 8th July 2072, Senior Superintendent of Police on 6th February 2075, Deputy Inspector General of Police on 17th June 2079 and was Additional Inspector General since 6th March 2079. In the early years, he worked as the head of the local police office in Kavre, Ruppandehi, Rautahat and also became the head of Nepal Police School Sanga, Doti and residential schools in Rautahat. He became the head of Maharajganj metropolitan circle and took over the leadership of district police office Rukum, Khotang, Sunsari, Morang, Makwanpur and Chitwan. He also completed the responsibility of training center Butwal.
He was the police chief of Surkhet and Butwal, respectively, Kathmandu Valley Crime Office, Bagmati Province Police Office, Nepal Police Headquarters Management Directorate, Police Headquarters Administration Department Naxal Kathmandu and Kathmandu Valley Police Office Ranipokhari respectively. He was the CIB chief from 29 July. Joining the United Nations police mission, Thapa went to Sudan and Liberia.
The recommendation committee to elect the governor has not yet been formed. The Rashtra Bank Act states that the governor must be appointed one month before the post becomes vacant. However, the government is not serious about following the legal provisions.
The cabinet meeting held on Monday evening did not discuss this issue. According to the Cabinet sources, there was a discussion about forming a recommendation committee in the previous Cabinet meeting, but no formal decision has been taken. A minister said that an informal agreement has been reached between the two ruling parties, Congress and UML, to have former governor Vijaynath Bhattarai as a member of the governor recommendation committee and Vishwa Poudel as an expert member. It is a practice for the finance minister to be ex-officio coordinator in the recommendation committee.
The provisions of the Act were ignored by the previous government as well. About 19 days after the tenure of former Governor Chiranjeevi Nepal, the then government appointed the current Governor Officer. Officials of the Ministry of Finance say that there is no rush to form the recommendation committee as the tenure of the governor officer is till March 24. "There was a lot of talk in the media about the formation of the recommendation committee, but there was no rush to form the committee as the current governor's tenure is still a few days away," said an official.
