The photo of Education Minister Raghuji Pant administering the oath to officials of Vidushi Yogamaya Himalayan Ayurveda University in the presence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been criticized after it was published.

The scene of Prime Minister Oli sitting on a chair while the president, vice-chancellor and registrar of the university are taking oath in turn has been commented as unusual and objectionable.  Officials who took oath with the Prime Minister, Minister of Education have questioned how they will work with their own conscience freed from political interference. What is even more surprising is that why and in what capacity Education Minister Pant administered the oath to the officials selected under the Board of Trustees (University Council) with the Prime Minister as a witness .

University President Arjun Karki, Vice-Chancellor Ramesh Kumar Dhungel and Registrar Dumbardhwaj Chemjong took oath last Saturday at the Prime Minister's residence Baluwatar. Karki was appointed as the chairman on 22 July 2081, while Dhungel and Chemjong were appointed by the Board of Trustees on Saturday. The Prime Minister's Secretariat said that Education Minister Pant administered the oath to President Karki, President Karki administered the oath to Vice-Chancellor Dhungel and he administered the oath to Registrar Chemjong. Prime Minister Oli is sitting on the chair in all these three oaths.

Some have even commented on his style of living.  Doctor Anup Subedi posted the photo on social media and wrote, "Thank you to whoever took this photo because in the future the officials of this university will be able to use their discretion to work". It is easy to imagine how independent the university will be from unnecessary political interference.

Yogamaya Ayurveda University is the first federal level university established under the Board of Trustees. In which there is no provision for Prime Minister and Minister of Education to be Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor . Energy Minister Deepak Khadka was also present at the swearing in of the officers of the university which was established in August 2079 under the board of trustees and is in the process of operation.

Professor Chaitanya Mishra pointed out that the system of having the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education administer oath to university officials is wrong.  Academicians have been suggesting that academicians should be the chancellor instead of the prime minister in the university and should be run through the board of trustees. They say that officials should be made accountable to the board rather than political leadership. Prime Minister Oli is against such a suggestion. Last December, the Prime Minister administered the oath of office and secrecy to the vice chancellors appointed in Sanskrit, Agriculture and Forestry and Pokhara University as the chancellor. Breaking past practices and traditions, he administered the oath to Dhaneshwar Nepal in Sanskrit, Sarada Thapalia in agriculture and Bedraj KC in Pokhara.

In the first week of March last year, Vice Chancellor of Kathmandu University, Achyut Wagle, was sworn in by Chancellor Oli and continued it . Professor Mishra pointed out that taking oath by the political leadership will show who owns the university. There is extreme political interference in the university. The oath taking was just a tableau. It is said that the government gives the budget and the university belongs to us. This is wrong," he said. Even if the government gives the budget, Mishra said that scholars should be given freedom to run the university. Citizens should be given the courage to work in democracy. What expertise does the Prime Minister Education Minister have to run a university?,' he said, 'He is a politician.' Unless the university is owned by academics and donors, there will be no improvement.'

The officials of the Ministry of Education take the swearing-in of President Karki, who was appointed 10 months ago, as strange. The government gives the budget to the university. The ministry that regulates the overall education sector is also the Ministry of Education. That's why the education minister took the oath,' says an official of the ministry. Education Minister Pant says that the oath-taking program is according to the existing system.

According to the provisions of the Oath Act-2079, the Prime Minister's Office claims that university officers have been sworn in. In the Act, it is mentioned that "who has been appointed, elected or nominated to a public position, but there is no provision in the relevant law to take an oath, the person holding such a 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". But after the promulgation of the said Act in August 2079, the oath was not administered even though vice-chancellors were appointed in universities including Terti University, Midwest, Far West and Purvanchal. After the promulgation of the Act, the Prime Minister, Congress Chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal also did not take the oath even though they had appointed Vice Chancellors as Chancellors.