Tribhuvan University continues pension payments counting unpaid leave despite council decision

Kathmandu, November 4, 2026 — Tribhuvan University (TU) has continued paying pensions to some former professors and employees by counting periods of unpaid leave as part of their service, despite an executive council decision to stop the practice.

The issue came under scrutiny after Onlinekhabar published a report in February 2025 (Falgun 2081) about professors receiving pensions after adding unpaid leave to their service periods. In response, the TU Executive Council decided on May 28, 2025 (Jestha 28, 2082), through decision No. 777, that unpaid leave should not be counted when calculating pensions.

However, the university’s Personnel Administration Division has continued making such payments to people who were already receiving pensions before the decision. A division official said the restriction was being applied only to new pension books, while those who had previously received pensions on the basis of unpaid leave were still being paid.

Under TU’s Teachers and Employees Service Regulations, 2050, extraordinary leave without pay is not counted as service, and employees are not entitled to salary or allowances during that period.

Despite this provision, some teachers and employees who took unpaid leave before April 21, 2011 (Baishakh 8, 2068), have had that period included in their service records for pension calculations.

The practice was supported by a precedent set by TU’s Appeal Commission on July 5, 2018 (Asar 21, 2075). The commission had ruled that unpaid leave taken by its own section officer, Bimal Rimal, should be included when issuing his pension book.