All joint secretaries joined hands against the minister´s proposal to the cabinet to transfer Secretary Pramod Karki from judicial service to administrative service. [break]
The joint secretaries gathered at the office of Prem Kumar Rai, the joint secretary at the Home Ministry, and filed complaints against Bhandari and Karki at CIAA, Prime Minister´s Office (PMO), Ministry of General Administration (MoGA), Ministry of Law and Justice (MoLJ) and Public Service Commission (PSC) for their intervention to block the minister´s ´illegal´ move.
"Clause 26 of the Civil Service Act-2045 and Clause 8 of Civil Service Regulations do not allow transfer of a secretary from the judicial service to administrative service," read the complaints. "We hereby ask the bodies concern to investigate the minister´s proposal and take appropriate action to block his attempt to flout law and regulations."
The joint secretaries also said such transfer would severely affect their professional growth. Such inter-service transfers were blocked through amendment to the Civil Service Act three years ago.
Secretary Karki is currently working at the Ministry of Law and Justice. Bhandari wants to post him in the vacant seat of secretary at his ministry.
Bhandari had also tried to transfer Karki to his ministry two weeks ago but his move was foiled after Chief Secretary Madhav Ghimire, Secretary Lila Mani Paudyal and other senior government officials objected to his proposal.
Bhandari defended that no law and regulations prohibit him from transferring a secretary from judicial group to administrative group. "There are several instances of such transfers in the past," Bhandari said, adding, "I don´t understand why some joint secretaries protested my proposal."
He suggested the government to take Attorney General´s opinion on the matter and take a decision on the matter.
Though Bhandari´s proposal was widely protested by government employees, a source said other ministers have been supporting Bhandari´s proposal to change service group without following the due procedures. "Other ministers also supported and tried to make the thing happen in Wednesday´s cabinet meeting too," the source told myrepublica.com.
According to the source, the Wednesday´s cabinet couldn´t take decision to transfer Karki following intense pressure from joint secretaries and other government employees.
A group of joint secretaries met Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and drew his attention to the legal provisions and Bhandari´s proposal.
Rai said, "We informed the PM that nearly 25,000 senior government employees´ career would be directly affected if the decision is taken in favor of Bhandari´s proposal." In his reply, the PM vowed not to take any decision beyond the laws.
Meanwhile, Minister for General Administration Rabindra Shrestha said no decision in this regard will be taken against the law.
A delegation of joint secretaries also reached the venue of the cabinet meeting on Wednesday to alert the ministers about the issue.
Meanwhile, various unions of government employees also filed complaints at PMO, PSC, MoGA and CIAA, demanding immediate intervention against Bhandari´s move.
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