KATHMANDU, July 15: In order to make the federal democratic governance system effective and pro-people, additional commissions were envisioned during the formation of the constitution by the Constituent Assembly. According to the constitutional provisions, those commissions were also formed. However, after the addition of the new commissions, the effectiveness of the constitutional commissions formed earlier have also degraded.
When the government pays attention to personal relations rather than competence and ability in the appointment of officials of the commission, the legitimacy of the commission becomes questionable. As a result, the effectiveness of the commissions is decreasing.
Article 27 of the Constitution has provisions for seven commissions as other commissions namely the National Inclusion Commission, Indigenous Nationalities Commission, Dalit Commission, National Women Commission, Muslim Commission, Tharu Commission and Madhesi Commission. But now the work of these commissions is only to celebrate the anniversary day and submit an annual report to the president of Nepal. In each commission there are about 25 to 30 employees. Those employees have become redundant.
Such commissions have now become recruitment centers of political parties. The party which leads the government appoints its party workers as officials in the commission. The officials appointed to the commission are party workers rather than competent and qualified persons. Therefore, experts say that the commissions have not been effective.
Nischal Raj Pandey, who worked as the secretary of the National Dalit Commission for 23 days from August 22, 2013 to September 13, 2013 (currently secretary in the Chief Minister's Office of the Bagmati Province Government), admitted that the constitutional commissions were ineffective as they could not work as intended.
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“The work of the Dalit Commission, where I was serving as secretary, was only to celebrate the Anti-Untouchability Day and submit a report. The work of other commissions was also similar,” Pandey said, “It is true that the commissions are not working according to the purpose for which they were established.” Pandey says that the employees do not want to stay in the office when there is no work.
The Dalit Commission changed secretary 12 times in two years. Pandey also stayed in the commission for only 23 days. He managed to transfer from there. Even Madan Bhujel and Hom Luitel did not appear in the commission for a single day.
They arranged their transfer to other offices without appearing in the commission for a single day. Pradeep Niraula appeared in the commission for only one day. Niraula appeared in the Commission on December 5, 2021. On the same day he retired from his working life. He reached the commission just a day before his 58th birthday.
Similar situation is in the National Inclusion Commission. All five officials of the Inclusion Commission belong to the Khas Arya community. The chairman of the commission is Ram Krishna Timilsina and members Bishnumaya Ojha, Hari Datta Joshi, Pushparaj Timalsina and Man Prasad Khatri are from Khas Arya community. The secretary of the commission, Sewanta Raj Dahal, also belongs to the same community.
Chairman of the Commission, Timilsina, says that inclusion should not only be viewed from the lens of caste, but also internalized from community, geography, gender and region. “The Inclusion Commission works for people representing backgrounds of the disabled, senior citizens, farmers, minorities, backward classes, backward areas and workers,” Timilsina said, “Therefore, according to the purpose, the officers of the commission are fully inclusive."
He alleges that the government has not made the constitutional commissions effective. “It is not that the commissions are ineffective, but the government itself did not allow the commissions to be effective,” Timilsina said, “The government never implemented the recommendations given by the commission.”
An employee of the Constitutional Commission complained that the government did not provide work to the commission and did not even allocate a budget for them. “Our job is to arrive at the office, spend the time reading newspapers all day, and return home in the evening,” said the employee, “There are no allowances and incentives . While working here, our creativity level is also diminishing.”
Former Chief Secretary Bimal Koirala said that this situation has arisen because the commissions were created due to sentiments. “While making the constitution, we got trapped in emotions. We made commissions for our respective communities. That's why this situation has been witnessed,” Koirala said. “If Tharu, Madhesi, Janatajati, Dalit, Muslim, indigenous departments were formed under the National Inclusion Commission as separate branches of the same commission, the commission would have been very effective.”
Koirala says that when the constitution was promulgated, the concept of forming only one commission was initially introduced, but later the legislators formed separate commissions by deciding emotionally. Koirala said that the commission was not effective because the officials to be appointed in the commission were party workers rather than experts.
Nischal Raj Pandey, former secretary of the Dalit Commission, also shared the same opinion. He said that if the other commissions written in the constitution were integrated into one commission, there would be coordination among themselves and the work would also be effective. “But now there is no coordination between them. That's why there is no work,” said Pandey, “The constitution should be amended to integrate all the commissions into one commission because all the provisions of seven commissions are arranged in the constitution.” But according to the constitution, there is also a provision that the commission can be reviewed after 10 years. It is mentioned in the constitution that the federal parliament can review the work of commissions after 10 years from the date of commencement of the constitution.
Other commissions explained in separate parts of the constitution have also not been effective. The government has neglected the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission. This commission is inactive in the investigation of natural resources and finance. The government never implements the recommendations made by the commission.
A similar situation prevails with the National Human Rights Commission. At present, the commission's work is only to recommend the government to take action in cases of human rights violations. The government never implements the recommendations made by the NHRC. The work of the commission has only been to issue a press release.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) , which has been made powerful by law, has not been able to effectively control and investigate the cases of corruption. Most of the cases registered by CIAA are unsuccessful in the special court. Legal experts say that cases are unsuccessful due to weak evidence presented in court. The Public Service Commission, which is responsible for recruiting and filling the posts of civil servants across the country, is not effective in its work, and now there is a shortage of a large number of civil servants across the country.
