Kathmandu, April 11: Tribhuvan University has managed to claw back Rs 60 million from 19 professors who apparently treated “study leave” as a one-way ticket out of responsibility. Not a bad return, considering how casually public institutions tend to leak money.
The case came to light after TU formed a probe committee to track faculty who left for further studies and never bothered to come back. The team, led by Assistant Professor Dr Jeevan Kafle, found the problem was not a minor administrative hiccup but a pattern. Out of 398 professors flagged for misusing the facility, 191 went abroad and simply stayed there. The remaining 207 did complete their studies, though that does not automatically make everything clean.
So far, 19 of those who did not return have paid back Rs 60 million. Another 46 have reached out, promising to return the funds. While promises may be easy to make, it’s encouraging that someone has taken the initiative to reach out.
The issue has reached the political level, with Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel pushing for faster recovery and action. TU expects a full report by mid-July, which will name those who have paid and those still pretending emails do not exist. If all dues are recovered, the amount could approach Rs 2 billion.
TU rules are not exactly vague. Faculty can take study leave for up to five years, but they must serve the university for an equivalent period afterwards. Skip work for 90 days without notice, and dismissal is on the table. Yet many ignored these conditions and settled abroad in countries such as the US, the UK, and Canada.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Deepak Aryal says the recovered money has gone into TU’s pension fund. Given that the university runs this fund without government backing, every rupee counts. Strange how accountability suddenly becomes urgent when the bill lands at home.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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