The maiden meeting of the Sushil Koirala-led Cabinet on Tuesday evening directed the Tribhuvan University to appoint the Dean at the Institute on the basis of seniority within 24 hours.

The two-man cabinet, with Koirala and Dr Ram Mahat on board, held the meeting after the Prime Minister assumed his office.

The meeting was held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at the country's main administrative complex Singha Durbar after Koirala assumed his office.

In the capacity of the Chancellor of TU, Koirala directed the TU to immediately take an initiative to appoint the senior-most professor as the new dean of IoM and help end the ongoing protest of doctors at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and Prof Dr Govinda KC's hunger strike.

Demanding the appointment of IoM dean, Prof Dr KC resumed his hunger strike on Friday, February 7.

Also, the Cabinet urged Nanda Prasad Adhikari and his wife Ganga Maya, of Gorkha, to end their hunger strike. For more than 100 days, the Adhikari couple have been staging the fast-unto-death at the Bir Hospital, demanding justice in the 2004 murder of their son in Chitwan by Maoists.

Confident on timely constitution

After assuming the country's chief executive, Koirala said that peace, stability, democracy and democratic constitution are the priorities of the government led by him.

He expressed his confidence that the new constitution would be prepared within in a year, saying the major as well as fringe parties have said that they are committed to the timely constitution. According to him, the constitution could be promulgated even earlier.

"I will make every effort to bring the democratic constitution in time," he told the media, sitting on the hot seat.In today’s meeting, Chief Secretary Lilamani Paudayal briefed PM Koirala and Minister Dr Mahat about the Cabinet procedures.

Dr Mahat is yet to be assigned a portofolio.

source: the himalayan times,11 feb 2014