Prolonged delays in nominating vice-chancellor candidates for the Kathmandu University has prompted the varsity’s office bearers and potential candidates to seek the prime minister’s help in ending the logjam.

Eight of the 10 candidates for the university’s chief executive role wrote to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday, questioning the role of the selection committee coordinator.

Stating that coordinator Suresh Raj Sharma, founder and former VC of the university, wants his favourite in the position, they said, “The committee was working against its selection guidelines to pick three candidates on merit [those scoring the highest],” reads the letter jointly addressed to PM Oli.

“It has become necessary to remind the chairperson of the recommendation committee to pick three candidates following the set criteria.”

They claim that Sharma is backing a candidate who is not among the top three based on interviews with them. The Sharma-led panel on February 14 conducted interviews of 10 shortlisted candidates. Out of 20 applicants, 10 were invited for interviews and presentations. However, two weeks since, the Sharma-led panel that has Dr Arjun Karki and former secretary Janardan Nepal as members is still unable to pick three names.

“Sharma is bent on giving a second term to Bhola Thapa, who reportedly did not make it to the top three,” said a professor at the university. “There is no doubt KU made its name under Sharma’s leadership but his acts are now ruining the university’s image.”

University officials too are concerned by the delay.

In a joint letter, 13 such officials urged a swift conclusion to the VC nomination process. The letter mentions that delays in making nominations have raised doubts about the committee’s efficiency and impartiality.

“The media has reported on the manipulation of scores of candidates who participated in presentations and interviews. We are optimistic that, based on the process and criteria approved by the committee, three candidates will be picked soon,” the joint letter reads.

With vice-chancellor Thapa set to retire on January 19, the government on December 14 constituted the nomination committee chaired by Sharma.

The committee on January 2 invited applications from aspirants for the executive head of the varsity, setting PhD as the minimum qualification. The criteria met with criticism after the teachers under the university’s medical school said it was designed to exclude them as their highest degree is MD/MS, not PhD.

Of the 17 who applied, 16 professors with PhD were shortlisted in the first phase. The list too landed in controversy as it included two of Sharma’s close relatives. The working procedure clearly states that member(s) of the selection committee cannot be in the team if their close relatives are applicants.

Medical faculty members not just objected to the criteria, but also wrote to Prime Minister Oli, the university’s chancellor, requesting him to expand the eligibility criteria so they too could apply too.

On January 18, during the university assembly, Oli instructed the officials to amend the procedure so that medical faculty members also could apply.

The Sharma-led committee on Friday reopened the application process, clearing hurdles for medical science teachers to apply. Now anyone with a master’s degree is eligible to apply for the position. Applicants have until Friday to do so.

Those already on the list do not need to reapply.

However, seven of the 16 shortlisted candidates registered a letter at Oli’s secretariat saying that they have no trust the Sharma-led panel would make transparent and impartial appointments. They raised two issues over impartiality: listing Sharma’s close relatives as the candidates and his decision to write to the prime minister to allow Thapa to work as acting vice-chancellor.

Against the practice of allowing the university’s registrar to work as acting vice-chancellor, Sharma batted for Thapa after his retirement. Thapa was appointed to the position in 2021 for four years.

Sharma had written to Oli to allow Thapa to continue as acting vice-chancellor. However, Achyut Wagle, the varsity’s registrar, is leading the university as its acting executive head.

Sharma, the founding vice-chancellor, worked for five full terms. He resigned in 2012 after completing two years of his sixth term.

Appointment of his successor too was controversial. There were allegations that Dr Ram Kanth Makaju was appointed Sharma’s successor on the condition that Morang’s Birat Medical College and Rupandehi’s Devdaha Medical College were granted university affiliation. They were eventually allowed to conduct MBBS courses as an extended programme.

Makaju, who is credited with establishing Dhulikhel Hospital as one of the best community hospitals in the country, was given the university’s leadership role despite landing in one after another controversy over his working style.