A division bench of Justices Gopal Parajuli and Cholendra Shumsher Rana directed that the decision to give marching orders to Dr Bhandari was incorrect.

Five months after her appointment as the VC of the institution, Dr Bhandari was given marching orders on January 24, 2013. All members of the PAHS Senate, summoned by the then Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai at his residence, voted to relieve Dr Bhandari of her position.

Dr Bhandari had demanded that a committee formed to investigate the protest at the PAHS following her appointment has to be quashed. The committee, comprising National Planning Commission member Dr Shiva Kumar Rai, Health and Population Ministry Secretary Dr Praveen Mishra and Education Ministry Secretary Suresh Man Shrestha, submitted its report last week. In the report, the panel pointed out that Dr Bhandari’s failure to abide by consensus in the decision-making process led to the institution’s malfunctioning and recommended that she be sacked.

Dr Bhandari, is the first cousin of Rastriya Madhes Samajbadi Party Chairman Sarat Singh Bhandari. She is also an advisor to the UCPN (M)-affiliated Health Professionals’ Association.

Students, doctors and officials at the PAHS had been protesting Dr Bhandari’s “unilateral” decision to appoint an office bearer, claiming that such an action would “ruin” the reputation and functioning of the hospital. PAHS officials requesting anonymity said the SC decision will once again bring instability in the institution.