A dispute has emerged between Nepal’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) over plans to amend the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Act, 1991 and radically restructure the nation’s premier scientific establishment.
The proposed reform plan has already triggered a grievance at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).
Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Mahabir Pun has described the 33-year-old establishment as one weighed down by an outsized forms and political interference, arguing that it requires elementary reform. Scientists and officers at NAST, nevertheless, say the ministry is making an attempt to undermine the academy’s autonomy beneath the guise of restructuring.
Pun has brazenly acknowledged that he has intervened within the establishment’s affairs.
“Intervention has become necessary,” Pun stated. “The institution was left unchecked for too long. Political interference and appointments based on power-sharing have weakened it. It can now only be reformed through intervention.”
He stated he was dissatisfied with NAST’s present state and needed to free it from political affect.
According to Pun, of NAST’s annual finances of Rs450 million, Rs270 million, or round 75 p.c, is spent on employees salaries and administrative bills.
He argued that the academy has centered extra on tutorial actions than innovation. With its governing board dominated by lecturers reasonably than innovators, innovation has been uncared for whereas the establishment has turn into closely overstaffed, Pun has stated.
“We are going to reverse this model,” Pun stated. “We will increase the number of researchers and reduce administrative staff.”
Pun additionally argued that the establishment’s authorized framework is outdated.
“Fifty years ago, there was no information technology, and there were nowhere near as many universities as there are today,” he stated. “The NAST Act was enforced in 1991. It no longer reflects present-day realities, and I want to introduce major reforms.”
Under the present construction, Nepal’s prime minister serves as NAST’s chancellor whereas the science and know-how minister is vice-chancellor. Pun plans to abolish that association.
The Ministry of Science has already forwarded proposed amendments to the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology Act, 1991, to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
Pun believes the present governance mannequin has inspired political patronage.
“We will remove the position of chancellor and appoint a director instead,” he stated. “The institution should be led by experts. Those who have occupied positions for years will be given a respectful farewell, and we will bring in energetic young professionals.”
Scientists and officers at NAST, nevertheless, view the ministry’s method with rising concern.
NAST spokesperson Ram Chandra Paudel stated restructuring is important, however argued that the ministry has chosen the flawed path.
“When Minister Pun first took office, we ourselves requested that he restructure NAST,” Paudel stated. “But the way the ministry is now pursuing in the name of restructuring has left us deeply concerned.”
He objected particularly to proposals that might permit the ministry itself to supervise scientific analysis.
“The ministry says it will carry out research. Scientific research simply cannot function within a bureaucratic system,” he stated. “Once files begin circulating among government officials, research slows to a standstill.”
Calls to reform NAST usually are not new.
Dhan Bahadur Karki, a tutorial at the academy, recalled that seminars and consultations on institutional reform had already been organised throughout the tenure of former vice-chancellor Dr Dilip Subba.
“NAST should be expanded to all seven provinces,” he stated. “We should focus not only on advanced technologies. We must also prioritise our own religion, culture and traditional local technologies, and use them to strengthen self-reliance.”
Another NAST scientist, who requested anonymity, stated staff had acquired neither formal session nor official communication concerning the restructuring plans.
Instead, he stated, discussions had been happening publicly whereas the establishment’s future was being determined with out involving these working inside it.
According to the scientist, the not too long ago launched Business Allocation Rules, 2026, assign analysis duties on to the ministry, weakening autonomous establishments equivalent to NAST.
“At a time when universities and other research institutions have struggled to deliver, the government should be giving NAST greater authority,” the scientist stated. “Instead, it is trying to place research under bureaucratic control.”
Paudel stated the ministry has been consulting exterior consultants whereas failing to coordinate with the establishment itself or handle inside issues confronted by its employees.
He added that NAST is presently working with each the vice-chancellor and secretary positions vacant, leaving a lot of its routine work nearly paralysed.
“The restructuring we want is one that removes unnecessary administrative dominance and gives scientists full authority over research,” he stated.
Paudel additionally disagreed with Pun’s proposal to take away the prime minister as chancellor.
“We want the prime minister to continue serving as our chancellor because scientists seek not only government funding but also recognition and encouragement,” he stated. “Support from the prime minister carries greater weight.”
Pun, nevertheless, stays decided to take away the prime minister from the position.
Ministry spokesperson Monika Jha stated individuals with vested pursuits had filed the CIAA grievance as a result of the ministry was making an attempt to introduce larger transparency in NAST’s restructuring course of and within the collection of award recipients.
The grievance, registered earlier this week, accuses the ministry of interfering with NAST’s autonomy and launching a unfavourable marketing campaign towards the academy.
It additionally alleges that the ministry is utilizing transparency reforms in grants and awards as a pretext to grab management of NAST’s governing regulation and autonomous standing.
Pun rejected these allegations.
“Autonomy applies to how an institution carries out its work,” he stated. “Once an organisation receives public funding, it cannot simply do whatever it wants.”
“Either it should generate its own budget, or if it relies on taxpayers’ money, it must remain accountable,” he stated. “The practice of hiring unnecessary staff, paying salaries without assigning work and ignoring the ministry under political protection will come to an end.”
NAST staff argue that the ministry has chosen to maneuver forward independently reasonably than coordinating with the academy at a time when its management positions stay vacant.
“This institution was originally established to free scientific work from bureaucratic interference and allow complete autonomy in research,” Paudel stated.
“After democracy was restored, however, political interference steadily increased. Leadership positions increasingly went to politically connected individuals rather than scientific experts.”
He stated this had steadily created an outsized administrative construction during which bureaucrats wielded larger affect than scientists themselves, making the establishment much less enticing to younger researchers.
According to Paudel, NAST can turn into efficient provided that appointments to tutorial positions are based mostly solely on scientific and tutorial benefit reasonably than political power-sharing.
He additionally stated the academy urgently wants a vice-chancellor with a powerful tutorial profile and a transparent understanding of latest scientific challenges, noting that key management positions have remained vacant for an prolonged interval.
Paudel argued that the present recruitment course of is simply too cumbersome to draw extremely certified researchers with doctoral and postdoctoral expertise. He known as for a separate and simplified system for recruiting scientists.
He additionally rejected options that innovation actions needs to be shifted exterior NAST, saying the academy is totally able to carrying them out.
NAST officers stated the academy has already established innovation centres in all seven provinces, making it pointless for the ministry to create parallel establishments.
Pun dismissed these centres as largely symbolic.
“They are little more than rented rooms with one or two people distributing budgets,” he stated.
He stated the ministry would as an alternative set up devoted innovation hubs open to the general public, in addition to innovation laboratories inside universities, to assist college students and strengthen Nepal’s innovation ecosystem.