Kathmandu, July 2 -- 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 country's premier scientific institution.

The proposed reform plan has already triggered a complaint 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 institution as one weighed down by an oversized bureaucracy and political interference, arguing that it requires fundamental reform. Scientists and officials at NAST, however, say the ministry is attempting to und...