KATHMANDU, July 22: Owing to serious differences among the ministers, the Administrative Committee of the Cabinet on Wednesday failed to take a decision on the promotion of 22 joint secretaries to the post of secretaries. [break]
The meeting headed by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at his official residence in Baluwatar lasted for five hours, but ended inconclusively after the ministers differed over the distribution of the position of secretaries among their favorites.
The secretary promotion committee has recommended 66 joint secretaries as eligible for the promotion, but only 22 such positions are vacant.
"Nepali Congress ministers pressed for the promotion of so many joint secretaries, that the committee could take no decision on the matter," a source said.
Though only 22 positions are vacant, altogether 29 names were proposed in the meeting for promotion. According to a source, the NC proposed names of 16 joint secretaries and the UML proposed 11 names for the promotion. Ministers from Madhes-based parties did not create any obstacle as other members of the committee passed the names of two joint secretaries from their community. "Joint secretaries Ram Swarup Sinha and Nathu Prasad Chaudhary are almost confirmed for the promotion," the source told myrepublica.com.
"We discussed the recommended names and agreed to select the 22 names for promotion only tomorrow," Minister for General Administration Rabindra Shrestha told reporters. He, however, denied that there was any dispute among the committee members over the recommended names. According to him, Thursday´s meeting will take place only after the cabinet meeting.
Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said that the meeting couldn´t take a decision due to the lack of adequate homework. "We thoroughly looked into the recommended name list and agreed to hold a meeting on Thursday to finalize the names," Mahat said.
According to Mahat, not all of the acting secretaries have possibility of being promoted to the vacant posts. "Though all 66 candidates are qualified, we have to seriously study on how to select only 22 from among them," Mahat told reporters.
"NC´s stand compelled us to defer the meeting," another source who participated in the meeting told myrepublica.com on condition of anonymity.
According to the provision of Civil Service Act, a joint secretary who has served for five years is eligible for the post of secretary. This time, no women candidate has been recommended for the promotion to the post of secretary.
The posts of 22 secretaries have remained vacant for the past two years.
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