An Interview with Asst. Prof. S.B. Shrestha (PART-2)

BMC: You mean majority of SOE faculties are also in support of KUPA movement. Right?

SBS: No doubt. Majority of them.

BMC: But Dr. Bhola Thapa claims that everything is OK in SOE.

SBS : Ha ha ha. Faculties do not tell him anything as KU management can destroy their career. For example, I am given to learn that Manishjee has intimidated his younger faculties against joining KUPA. Since most of the teaching assistants are serving KU on temporary basis, there is no chance of defying the Incharge, Dean and Registrar. But, they are extending their support to us and they too detest the Suresh Raj regime.

BMC: How can you be sure of that?

SBS: Firstly, most of the faculties are there in KU on their own qualifications and they are well read enough to understand what is in their favour and what is against thier interests. Moreover, nobody in KU likes to lick the boot as they earn salary by doing their job. But, the system has become so redundant that they would be looked down upon in KU if they do not ingratiate themselves with the dean or incharge. To do away with the whole system, they all agree that current nepotistic regime of Suresh Raj must go. VC, Registrar, Deans and Incharges must know they dont enjoy the support of the majority of the faculty members. Another reason could be fear of Suresh Raj getting vindictive.

BMC: Is Suresh Raj really a vindictive person?

SBS: That is there for all to see. When KUPA was established, he first guessed that some other senior professor instigated teachers to be united. Then, he used his corrupt brother to attack that professor. You all know what a lowly person Suresh Raj is. He should have tried to settle everything through negotiation. But, instead of negotiating and requesting the faculties, he tried to intimidate them. Consequently, the result is there before all of you.

BMC: Is Suresh Raj vindictive towards Dr. Boris Niraula?

SBS: Why not? The sequence of events clearly establish that Suresh Raj is quite vindictive against Dr. Boris Niraula and you might have read what he said in Kantipur. After a month or more, he is claiming that Dr. Boris Niraula is not competent and he was fired because of the students' demand. Why did not he give that reason at the time of firing Dr. Boris? Firstly, they fired Dr. Boris thinking that they are unchallenged in KU and they would never be questioned. But when it caused a strom, they are now coming up with hollow explanations.

BMC: Is Dr. Boris your friend?

SBS: Yeah, now. I have not met Dr. Boris personally. However, we are exchanging ideas quite frequently. He has thanked me for my support to him. Whether Dr. Boris is our friend or not does not matter. We can not remain mute spectator to the treatments meted out to other dignified faculty members. Today, Suresh Raj has managed to attack Dr. Boris, and if you let him get away with that you can not deny that he would attack me tomorrow. Since Suresh Raj is living on false premises and can be easily misled by Sitaram, Suresh Raj can do anything. In such situation, we have to be careful of our dignity and by supporting Dr. Borish Niroula, we tried to assert our rights to work with dignity in KU.

BMC: You mean Suresh Raj can be easily misled?

SBS: Yeah, he has been misled number of times by his coterie. Yeah, I think it was in 2002 when I was organizing some protest meeting of the faculties, he was instigated by Registrar that I am doing politics. I don't know what did he say on my back, but some spineless faculties at that time were claiming that my days were numbered in KU.

BMC: Anyway, Suresh Raj is your VC, is there any specific cases that spurred you to write against him?

SBS: Both yes and no. But, there are situations when I was victimized in KU and nobody is responsible for that except Dr. Suresh Raj as he has been presiding over this rotten mess.

BMC: Can you please elaborate on that?

SBS: I think it was around 2001-2002, Suresh Raj conducted one survey/feedback on the popularity of the Deans of School of Engineering and School of Science. Since Bhadraman was quite unpopular at that time, majority of us gave our opinion against the Bhadraman. At that time, there were some frictions between Bhadraman and Suresh Raj. Then, with advice of Sitaram, Suresh Raj used that survey as a tool to sideline Bhadraman. Once the survey was collected, he used the survey result to sack Bhadraman from the Dean of SOE. Later on, Bhadraman got hold of that survey report and started to become vindictive towards many of us who wrote against his inefficiency. Knowing the nature of Bhadraman, Suresh Raj should have kept those survey/feedback in close custody or must have destroyed.

BMC: Oh, then what did he do?

SBS: Bhadraman did not attack me directly. He managed to lower the ranking of my cousin who appeared in KUMET exam. I was familiar with the vindictiveness of Bhadraman and I had requested Pushpa sir and Mukundajee to guard against reprisal by Bhadraman. Pushpa sir being in the exam board informed me that there would be no such things as he had carefully checked every details. But when the ranking list was published, my cousin was placed at the lowest grade. Bhadraman did it deliberately to attack me.

BMC: Oh my god, is KU exam system so prone to manipulations?

SBS: If Bhadraman wants, he can manipulate anything. There have been lots of problems in the examination. Bhadraman does not trust the faculties as it deprives him his chances of bossing around. But, sometimes, the students know their grades even before the results are published. This is because of the leakage from the exam section. You can verify this from anyone who stayed in Banepa hostel. KU exam system has lost credibility because of Bhadraman. Exam section is like restaurant. Even his family members come into join for lunch like that. So, in such hustle bustle, it is quite possible that someone leaks the information.

BMC: Then, the issue should have been settled there, hoina ra? Why the problem is continuing?

SBS: After that I had minor scuffle with Brijesh Adhikary, son of Sitaram when we were discussing this issue amongst the friends of SOE. Tell me what will you do if you too were attacked that way? But Brijesh thought it otherwise and he thought that I was criticizing Sitaram, who is the chief of exam becuase of his position as registrar. Since then both Sitaram and Brijesh started lobbying against me. Moreover, it is issue of the system. We shuld keep on criticizing such deviations in Exam for KU's betterment. So, from my side, I want to take it as healthy debate.

BMC: Really? Sitaram and Brijesh can do such things?

SBS: Ha ha ha. You can verify this with anyone. Sitaram is very cunning. He presents himself as a very nice gentlemen and does not say anything at your face. But he knows very well how to incite others to attack you. Moreover, I have been in the hit list of Sitaram ever since We publicly questioned his efficiency?

BMC: That means you had fight with Sitaram also?

SBS: I don't call it like that. We were just requesting him to apply rule of laws instead of defaming the faculties.

BMC: Defaming the faculties?

SBS: Yeah, it was beginning of the semester orientation when this happened. Usually, VC used to orient the faculties at the beginning of the semester. But at that time, Sitaram came to orient us. In the course of orientation, he started accusing the faculties of evading responsibilities and going home early by climbing over the wall. There were hundreds of faculties and he was accusing all of us as lazy, and incapable of working. He even questined Ananda Raj Khanaljee about morality. Then, Pradip poudel jee and I simply challenged him to take action against the faculties if he had proofs. We simply asked him to stop talking like a cheap politician. I think he felt that myself and Pradip challenged him. Eversince he was against me and he was nursing grouse against me.

BMC: So, you have been in the hit list of Sitaram also?
SBS: Yeah, Sitaram never liked my uprightness as I never called him at his house neither did I ever claimed that I am very interested in teaching in Job. He thinks that some other faculties are very good because they always speak nicely with him, calls at his home and sometimes makes courtsey visits to him at his residence also. This is how he generally evaluates the faculty member. On the other hand, I kept on doing my job while being as upright as I am now. My uprightness ruffled his feathers on many occasions and so he never liked me. His son, Brijesh also never liked me for the same reasons and he perceived me as a great threat to his upward mobility in SOE and so the father and son duo have always put me in their hit list.

BMC: Why Sitaram is like that? Does not he know every body has his own space in KU?
SBS: I think it is related with his background. He used to work in Nepal Government office prior to joining KU. He carried his administrator`s mentality from there and both he and Suresh Raj therefore thought that they would run KU like CDOs control thier districts. So, they know general administration but not academic administration. Consequently, they are huge failures.


BMC: You have worked as department chief in KU also. There have been many questions regarding Service Commission of KU. What is your opinion?
SBS: I think KUPA has already written about the "Service Commission" of KU in their memorandum to the members of Pratinidhi Sabha. The Service Commission is only for name sake. Everything is controlled by VC himself and he himself conducts interview. Moreover, there are no uniformity in application of rules also. There are many instances when the rules of Service Commission was breached. This has happened in the recruitment of both the administrative and academic staff. Suresh Raj claims that he has hired his relatives according to existing rules. But don't we know how these rules are broken and played around with. How Suresh Raj's daughter, Registrar's sons and Bhadrman's son were recruited in KU is open to all of us. Moreover, the most interesting issue that I find is related with the hiring of his younger brother Mukunda. Both Mukunda and Dandapanijee were hired at the same time. Mukunda being his younger brother went on climbing the ladder of success and Suresh Raj meticulously destroyed the ethics of KU service commission by taking his brother to Executive Band. On the other hand you see where is Danda Pani jee is now. If you compare the capabilities of Dandapani jee and Mukundajee, Dandapanijee is no less capable than Mukundajee. Dandapanijee used to handle the entire secretariat of the Pratinidhi Sabha in his previous job. After coming to KU, because of his not being relative of Suresh Raj and Sitaram, he could not go up as fast as Mukunda has gone. This case is quite enough to throw light on KU service commission. Do I need to speak more on how VCs daughter is hired , how Registrar's son is hired and how Bhadraman single handedly hired his son Daniel.

BMC: Why Suresh Raj and Sitaram give importance to administrative staff than to academic staffs?
SBS: Suresh Raj and Sitaram has devised one mechanism to control KU. They have many relatives in main positions of KU administration. They know that professor and teachers can not be easily controlled as there are issues like academic freedom. Just to keep the professors on surviellance, they use these relatives in administration to gather information on the teachers. These relatives informally chat with the students and keep on asking which teacher is good and which teacher is bad and after getting feedback from the students, they relate those information to Suresh Raj and Sitaram. If any teacher is becoming more upright and opposing the misdeeds of Suresh Raj and Sitaram, they immidiately know about that teacher. Thereafter, they start planting stories against the staff. Sitaram is quite good in doing this. SInce most of us are quite young and competitive we generally tend to argue with each other. Sitaram always maintains these information. Whenever some facutlies speak up against their misdeeds, he would imidiately start chatting with possible competitor of those faculties and start filling the ear. This is how Sitaram and Suresh Raj are managing KU and for this they need the support of administrative staff. That is why they give more importance to the staff.

BMC: So administrative staffs are being used against the academic staffs, right?
SBS: Yeah. But they can not use all the administrative staffs against the faculties. Mostly their relatives were used against the teacher. Sometimes they use these staffs to slander even senior professors also.

BMC: It is heard that administrative staffs are also starting their association in KU. What do you think?
SBS: Administrative staffs are also entitled to form their association. There are many in administration who are not given proper responsibilities. Narayanjee was shifted to KUSOM but recently he was brought back to VC's office. I don't know what responsibilities are given to Dandapani jee and Bharat jee. I think most of the administrative staffs are quite capable. But Sitaram and Suresh Raj have different methods of promoting the administrative staffs. Yeah, both of them want administrative staffs to always obey them.

BMC: KUPA has written that there is a massive corruption in KU? Is it so?
SBS: Why should KUPA write it without proof. There is systematic corruption in KU and Sitaram is responsible for this.

BMC: Do you have any proof of their corruptions?
SBS: Yeah. We can see many.

BMC: Then, why don't you give that proof to Suresh Raj? Suresh Raj, in every faculty meeting, openly claims that if they are resorting to corruption, give proof like that. Why don't you throw that proof at this own face?
SBS: Ha ha ha. Yeah, Suresh Raj always challenges to give proof of his corruption. But tell me will you ever give the proof to the accused? Won't he tamper with the proof? So, these proofs are rather better to hand over to an impartial probe committee. For that Nepal Government needs to sack these two gentlemen and initiate a probe committee. Suresh Raj has wide connections from media to everyone that matters. Moreover, by recent incidents like mobilization of gundas in KU premises itself, it has been proved that he may do anything to finish off his opponents. Therefore, till Suresh Raj is there in KU, the proofs will not appear. Once they are sacked and an independent probe committee is formed, there will be many providing proofs and evidences.

BMC: Can not it be a ploy of KUPA and others of sacking them?
SBS: No. Then, he should give his property details. You will easily find out.

BMC: What about Sitaram?
SBS: Yeah, both of them should provide their property details.


BMC: You wrote about Ram Kantha Shrestha and Bel Prasad also in your letter? Why did you do that?
SBS: Ram Kantha Shrestha is professor's representative in KU senate. But he is not voicing the voices of the faculties in the senate. Moreover, I am really surprised to know the way he was nominated in the senate. I think academically he is my junior. But, VC is in this habit of creating new rules to decorate his supporters. As a matter of fact, I should have been there in the senate. So, you can say that it is a kind of competition between the faculties. Secondly, I really did not like the concept of DMI. I think that in basic technical sector, KU should not run any program as it would make the indispensible technical area quite expensive. But, Suresh Raj is quite interested in earning money, so he went on to start that program. Regarding Bel Prasad, I have never met him. But I have read a lot about him. Suresh Raj was very happy when Bel Prasad was appointed the president of District Vigilance committee by the king. Bel Prasad might have helped KU but he has benefitted a lot from KU also. Because of pressurizing of VC, sometimes we had to work in great difficulty. Actually, one of his relatives was running the cafteria in KU. The food was really rotten. None of the students ever ate anything in that canteen and it was really difficult to force the students to join the hostel mess in the cafteria. As a member of Mess Sub-Committee of KU, I tried to control the decline in quality of food. The relative of Bel Prasad never improved the quality of food. Later on we cancelled his contract with KU. At that time, he used the influences of Bel Prasad and VC gave immense pressure to the mess committee to buy his old used utencils, and other items used in the cafteria. KU Mess Sub-Committee later bought those utencils.

BMC: So, you too yielded to the pressure from VC?
SBS: Never. I never endorsed that decision. Pushpa sir told me that VC has asked us to buy back those old used utencils at the original price without depreciation. Then, I abstained from that meeting. Later on I heard that the mess committee arranged the quorum and made decision.

BMC: This is the reason you oppose Bel Prasad? Right?
SBS: Bell Prasad is a local politician and every politician has his compulsions. He has used his relation with Suresh Raj to curry favour for his supporters. Now he is claiming that because of KUPA, KU is having bad image and he is also instigating other locals of Dhulikhel. But, all other people in Dhulikhel, Banepa and Panauti must know that there is nobody else as much benefitted as Bel Prasad and his group from KU.

BMC: What do you think about KUMS problem?
SBS: KUMS has suffered a lot after Dr. Arjun Karki left KU. Along with Dr. Karki, many other good teachers like Dr. Onta, Dr. Dhital also left. This will adversely affect KU.


BMC: Are you familiar with Dr. Arjun Karki and other professors of KUMS?
SBS: Yeah, I know Dr. Arjun Karki. He is a thorough acadmician and he trusted Suresh Raj too much. I knew that there were conspiracies being hatched against him in KU. People in KU never tolerated his uprightness and they used to complain on petty issues like separate vehicle for KUMS and so on. Even Mukunda was telling me that Dr. Karki disqualified my cousin from KUMET exam.

BMC: Really, did Mukund say so?
SBS: Yeah, Mukunda had some ego problem. Like other relatives he too joined KU and went up in KU hierarchy becuase of his relation. So, he started thinking that he is the most important person in KU. I think he did not like Dr. Karki as Dr. Karki always demanded the administration to facilitate the academia in KUMS which Mukunda is not capable of doing.

BMC: Mukunda may have his problems with Dr. Karki. But why did he try to relate you with Dr. Karki?
SBS: I too dont know why did he do that. But, having stayed in KU for such a long time, we can easily say that this is systematic procedure of sounding out nearby ones to attack the third person. Dr. Karki never had any problem with me and there was no chance why should he disqualify my cousin. The only person who did it was Bhadraman. But since Mukunda was interested to defame Dr. Karki, he started planting all these stories. Yeah, there was one incident related with medical students when I was there warden in KU Boys hostel. However, after that incident, Dr. Arjun Karki, Dr. Sharad Onta and Dr. Dhital advised the students and those problems were not repeated by the students. Since we all are teachers meant for the welfare of the students, we acted in tandem. I pointed them out some deviations and they complemented me by advising the students. That is how we worked at that time.


BMC: What was that incident? Can you please elaborate?
SBS: Oh, it is related with smoking something like that. Not so serious at that time. But do not know what is happening now. People like Bel Prasad should rather control these unscrupulous elements who keep on selling liquour and other thing around the university area rather than trying to seek benefit out of KU for his supporters. He claims that he is very good social worker. But there are many areas the Municipality has to help KU.

BMC: Let me go back to current KUPA agitation. What do you think about current movement? What should KUPA do regarding reinstatement of Dr. Boris Niroula?
SBS: KUPA should never yield to Suresh Raj. I am busy here so can not go back to Nepal. However, I have been giving suggestions to the friends and how they should take the movement. Current movement is for the betterment of KU. Once Suresh Raj is gone everything will be fine. The question is removing this cancer called Suresh Raj instead of hiding it. There are people who claim that KUPA movement will affect KU's image. I think either they are speaking at the behest of Suresh Raj or they do not understand the gravity of the situation. Because of total mismanagement, KU is sliding down in popularity chart. Suresh Raj is busy arranging his feliciations like king Gyanendra and does not know that many students are not satisfied in KU and the quality of education in KU. In Engineering there are serious problems in Computer Department. Manishjee made fun of academic values by giving his services to other colleges in Kathmandu. He claims that he earns thousands of rupees every month. But, he has never seen how the thousands of ruppees are wasted everymonth in computer department. The students of Computer department are paying money for very very bad and irregular teaching. That was how things were when I was there. I hope students might be happy now. In Electrical, Brijesh could not continue M.E. in Communications. He never contributed for M.E. program in Electrical department. Performancewise, both Manish and Brijesh destroyed the reputation of respective departments.

There is new program called Environmental engineering but it is tagged with enviornmental science. It means there is some friction between SOE and SOSc. In School of Science there are many problems, experienced teachers like Subhashjee, Prabhabati Madam, Chandrakala Madam etc. are sidelined. They are replaced by novice and inexperienced teacher. This has affected both the I.Sc. and Undergrad programs of School of Science. Suresh Raj thinks that KU is a research university. But his calculations are wrong. We still need many experienced teachers than researchers in KU.

Regarding Medical, I do not know much. But, heard that after sudden departure of Dr. Karki and other highly talented faculties, KUMS has suffered a lot. Dr. Ram Kantha is a good sergeon and he is a good social worker also. But We can not say that he is good director and good academician. Teaching and managing the academia is different from carrying out surgical operation. When Dr. Karki was there in KUMS, there were many professors from Harvard and there were innovative methods like PBL introduced in Nepal. After their departure, we see that everything is vanishing now.

Suresh Raj must have known how huge failure he has turned by now. But still he is not compromising and he is ready to rule KU like king Gyanendra tried to rule Nepal. I heard that he has been mobilising many people and he is even cursing those who refused to help him. He is even attacking very highly respected personalities from the civil society. So, it is understandable that he would attack me and Dr. Boris Niroula. Whatever he claims, KUPA should never budge from current position. After his character assasination of Dr. Boris Niroula, KUPA must immidiately seek unconditional apology from Suresh Raj.

I never expected that Suresh Raj would be so lowly and start hitting the people from below the belt.


BMC: Who should be next VC of KU?
SBS: This is a divisive question and we should not focus on this issue right now. Anybody who is capable of improving the image of KU should be VC. The most important question is immidiate removal of Suresh Raj and Sitaram. Then, most of our problems will be solved and the dignity of the faculties will be restored.


BMC: What do you think about Prof. Kafle?
SBS: He is the most suitable person in KU now. Moreover, he has been there in KU since ages and he has suffered a lot at the hands of Suresh Raj and Sitaram. I was really shocked to know that Suresh Raj used some goodas to attack Prof. Kafle. Had I been there I would have definitely tried to get that goonda arrested and proceeded accordingly. Now, when Suresh Raj can do this in day broadlight, you can easily guess what he might have told secretely to his coterie. By that, Suresh Raj has destroyed whatever reputation he was left with.


BMC: What do you think about others and outsiders?
SBS: If people like Suresh Raj can become VC why not others? Yeah, Dr. Devendra Raj Pandey, Dr. Sundar Mani Dixit, and many others are there who are qualified to be VC from outside. From inside KU, Prof. Kafle is our obvious choice.