Kathmandu, June 15 -- time lecturers at Tribhuvan University (TU) enforced a fresh round of padlocking on Friday at the offices of the vice-chancellor, rector, registrar, and TU Service Commission, intensifying ongoing protests against the university's fast-track upgrading of the teachers.

This move follows a 19-day-long padlocking campaign by Nepal Student Union (NSU), affiliated with the ruling Nepali Congress. The additional action by lecturers has further paralysed the university's central administration, which remained closed on Sunday.

TU recently initiated a fast-track procedure to appoint associate professors, senior associate professors, and professors through interviews, 'bypassing' the traditional written examination. The dec...