KATHMANDU, June 21: The State Affairs Committee of the Parliament has directed the Ministry of General Administration (MoGA) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to furnish details about the recent transfer of government officials on deputation by the ministries to the committee within a week.
The committee held a meeting with Minister for General Administration Rekha Sharma, Home Minister Shakti Basnet and State Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development on Tuesday to discuss the controversy surrounding transfers of senior officials by the home ministry and the ministry of federal affairs and local development just ahead of the end of the current fiscal year. Following the discussion, the committee directed MoGA and MoHA to furnish details about the transfer of government officials to the committee within a week.
On June 1, the home ministry had transferred 51 under-secretaries including 15 CDOs to different offices within the ministry. But Minister for General Administration Sharma had expressed serious objection over the home ministry's decision to transfer the senior officials without taking the consent of her ministry.
MoGA wants civil servants not returning from abroad punished
She had maintained that the home ministry's recent transfer of senior officials has violated the policy and legal provisions related to transfer and deputation of civil servants.
Likewise, her ministry had also refused to give consent to a proposal of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development on transfer of 22 local development officers and 43 other civil servants to various offices within the ministry as frequent transfer of officials would hamper development works seriously just ahead of fiscal year-end.
And the matter had caused serious differences among major ruling coalition partners -- CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist-Center) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal.
Tension still continues between Home Minister and General Administration Minister over transfer of officials
Speaking at the meeting, Minister for General Administration Sharma said her ministry was simply trying to implement the Civil Service Act by asking all the ministries to compulsorily seek consent of her ministry before transferring any officials. “There is a trend of transferring officials rampantly and it has been hampering various development activities. So, all we are trying to do is to make the ministries follow law and order.”
However, Home Minister Banset said that the ministry had transferred officials as part of the ministry's practice of transferring CDOs and other senior officials once a year. “While the Civil Service Act has its own provision regarding transfers our ministry has a practice of transferring of CDOs once a year. I have just given continuity to the same practice.”
He said his ministry has informed about the transfer to the Ministry of General administration and requested it to grant consent to his ministry's decision. But Minister Sharma said that her ministry is still under discussion whether or not to grant consent to the home ministry' decision to transfer officials.
