KATHMANDU, Aug 12: As many as 150 civil servants, who have already been deputed to various provincial and local government offices according to the civil servants adjustment process, have sought their transfers to various federal government offices, claiming that they are suffering from various mental illnesses.
As civil servants turn up before the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration one after another seeking transfer to the center, the ministry is mulling over investigating those civil servants and doctors involved in producing such health reports. The certificates, as stated by Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lalbabu Pandit, were produced with the intent of not working at offices of provincial and local governments after their adjustment.
Kedar Paneru, a joint-secretary at the ministry, informed 150 civil servants have turned up at the ministry from their assigned offices seeking transfers to the federal ministries. They have presented certificates of mental illnesses and sought transfer saying they need to stay in Kathmandu for frequent health checkups and intensive care.
“Civil servants certified with mental illnesses have sought transfers to offices under the federal government. They are recommended to be transferred to the reserve pool,” said Paneru.
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The Civil Servants Adjustment Act has a provision to transfer mentally ill civil servants to the reserve pool. An Organization and Management survey conducted before the adjustment process started has a provision to transfer up to 1,009 civil servants to the reserve pool.
As bureaucrats turn up before the ministry one after another, administrators under the ministry are instructed not to entertain any applications filed seeking their continuity at federal offices. Instead, they are told to discontinue them from the job.
“Few civil servants have approached me citing their mental problems. I have asked the ministry officials not to give them any room for their adjustment in federal government,” said Federal Affairs and General Administration Minister Lalbabu Pandit.
Minister Pandit said those civil servants who are already adjusted at the provincial and local government will be sacked from their jobs if they are found seeking jobs at federal government offices by producing mental sickness certificates. “Such officials are not to be allowed to sign their attendance at the center. They will go home if they are absent for 21 days continuously from their offices,” said Minister Pandit.
The minister has taken a tough stance after the civil servants were reportedly found producing fake documents to claim that they are suffering from mental illnesses to seek transfers to offices under the federal government instead of going to their assigned work places.
As many as 150 civil servants have submitted medical documents at the ministry arguing that they are suffering from mental diseases and need intensive care in Kathmandu. The Ministry is said to be preparing to adjust them at the ministry’s reserve pool.
Those brought under the reserved pool need not go to their assigned offices and work there.
Dharma Kanta Baskota, former chairman of Nepal Medical Council, said an investigation should be carried out against both doctors and civil servants. “If doctors are found issuing fake health certificates, then such doctors should be booked,” he said.
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