The officials had gone to the ministry to submit a memorandum to Minister for General Administration Rabindra Shrestha.[break]
Rajan Regmi, senior vice president of Nepal Government Employees´ Organization (NGEO), said police arrested the officials, including NGEO President Bhola Nath Pokharel, from the gate of the ministry saying they have been ordered not to allow them to enter the ministry.
The civil servants have been demanding that the minister take initiatives to amend the automatic promotion provision in the Civil Service Act. They want the law to be changed so that those automatically promoted will be recognized on par with those who are promoted through a regular process.
“We had informed the minister that we were coming to hand over the memorandum,” Regmi said, “But we were arrested from the gate of the ministry.”
Meanwhile, the NGEO has condemned the arrest and demanded separate apologies from Minister Shrestha and Home Minister Bhim Rawal. The detained government employees were released in the evening.
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