The Supreme Court has stopped Tribhuvan University from appointing professors and staff through internal competition. In the judgment of February 6, 2081, the Supreme Court mandated the University to arrange for the selection and appointment of professors and staff through open competition only.

The full text of the Supreme Court's order was made public on Friday.

The Supreme Court has also ordered that no provision should be made to make open competition narrow and ineffective while making legal arrangements for filling posts, and to make necessary decisions to fill posts through clean/healthy competition. The Supreme Court stopped the attempt made by the University to appoint professors and staff through internal competition and ordered not to repeat such action. 

The joint bench of Judge Nahkul Subedi and Sunil Kumar Pokharel concluded that even if internal competition can be done once in special circumstances, such practice cannot be repeated many times. Until 2076, the University has previously filled the posts of professors and staff through internal competition more than 3 times. 

On February 9, 2077, the Tertiary Service Commission advertised for the recruitment of deputy professors through open competition. The examination was postponed on October 18, 2078, citing special reasons. In the same year, on November 14, the Tertiary Assembly amended the Teacher-Employee Service Rules 2050, and provided that only teachers or employees who have worked for 10 years in temporary or contractual service can compete for the position of deputy professor for teachers and assistant level first and second level for staff. When the chancellor and prime minister were Sher Bahadur Deuba and vice chancellor Dharmakant Baskota. 

It was mentioned in the decision of the assembly that the arrangement will continue until 2079. A writ petition was filed on December 8, 2078, stating that the postponement of the examination and the amendments made to the rules have violated the right of the examinees who are preparing for the open examination to enter the university service. Ramesh Bista and Manita Khatri, contenders for the post of vice-professors, filed a petition against the University Council, Executive Council, Academic Council and Service Commission saying that they are going to fill the posts of teachers and staff only through internal competition. 

While hearing the writ, the Supreme Court stated that the amendment made in the law is trying to push the university towards inefficiency by prohibiting or limiting the opportunity for capable and qualified people to enter the institution through open competition. The Supreme Court is of the opinion that efficient, competitive and competent teachers and staff can be filled in the university only through an open, clean and competitive appointment process. 

Similarly, the Supreme Court has stated that any act of prohibiting open competition or discouraging the merit system is contrary to the intent and spirit of the Tertiary Education Act. It is mentioned in the order that such actions do not even get social acceptance, and are not even decent for an academic institution like Trivi, which carries historical responsibility.

The Supreme Court says that unless competitive and capable people who have the qualifications available in the open market are brought into service, the aim of the university to produce skilled manpower and provide quality higher education cannot be achieved. On the contrary, the provision to fill positions by competition only between contractual or temporary teachers-employees has been clarified in the full text that competition is only in name. 

A special competition said to be held only between persons in contract and temporary service may be neither open nor competitive. It does not seem to be able to support the academic development of the university. "There is no doubt that any decision to narrow the competition will eventually weaken the academic and educational level of the university and adversely affect the institutional prosperity," the full text states.