KATHMANDU, July 24: The relationship between Federal Affairs and General Administration Minister Amanlal Modi and Secretary Krishnahari Pushkar has worsened. At present, there is a tension between the minister and the secretary. The high-level employees of the ministry have been divided into two factions after the tension between the minister and the secretary flared. One group seems close to the minister and the other seems close to the secretary. This has also affected the functioning of the ministry.

According to ministry sources, the relationship between the minister and the secretary has deteriorated to such an extent that it is no longer possible for them to stay in the same ministry. "There will be a change of minister or a transfer of secretary," said a senior official.

A few days ago, Minister Modi put a red circle on the attendance sheets of Secretary Pushkar, and their relationship deteriorated further. An employee close to Minister Modi said, “On that day, the minister had to put a red circle on the attendance slip of Secretary Pushkar. For four days, the minister had been trying to meet the secretary, but he did not meet the minister citing various excuses. There was a situation where the minister tried to meet but the secretary refused to meet. After it was too much, the minister put a red circle on the attendance slip of the secretary.”

According to sources, among the five joint secretaries working in the ministry, Hemraj Tamang, Narayan Aryal and Balram Rijal are seen close to the minister and Kamal Bhattarai and Scheme Shrestha are seen close to the secretaries.

The party close to the minister has alleged that Secretary Pushkar did not allow the employees to meet and get close to the minister by showing greed for better performance evaluation. Another employee close to the minister said, “The deadline for filling the work performance evaluation form was July 23rd. Until then, the secretary kept his subordinates in a state of panic.”

According to the Civil Service Act, 2049, the Secretary has the right to evaluate the performance of the joint secretaries and under secretaries. In the case of employees below that, the employees one level above have the right to perform performance evaluation.

A ministry source said, “Fearing that the performance evaluation will deteriorate, now the staff such as the under secretaries and joint secretaries do not meet the minister as much as possible. Even when called by the minister, the under secretaries and joint secretaries make various excuses. There is a provision in the law that the Secretary's performance should be evaluated by the Chief Secretary. An employee close to Secretary Pushkar said, “From the beginning, the minister used to be pressured to work according to his own interests, sometimes to transfer someone, sometimes to raise comments to do some work. This is why the relationship could not be good.”

But ministry Spokesperson and Joint Secretary Kamal Bhattarai claimed that the relationship between the minister and the secretary is normal and natural. “The relationship between them (Secretary and Minister) is good. It is normal and natural,” he said. Bhattarai said about the minister putting a red circle on the attendance slip of the secretary, “Such things keep happening but the relationship is good.”

According to ministry sources, the relationship between the minister and the secretary has deteriorated for the last one and a half months. Last month, the minister had reached the meeting of the Province Affairs Committee of parliament alone. Secretary Pushkar did not attend the meeting. Usually the secretary should also attend the meeting. But he did not go to the meeting of the province affairs committee because he was ‘busy’. Minister Modi complained about the secretary not attending the meeting.

Similarly, when the minister left for Korea last month, Secretary Pushkar did not go to the airport to bid him farewell.. Similarly, Pushkar did not go to the airport to welcome him back, either. Sources said that it is when Secretary Pushkar’s behavior irritated Minister Modi. According to an employee close to Minister Modi, it is difficult for the secretary to pick up even calls made by the minister.

Sources claim that after the discussion about the minister's departure, Secretary Pushkar stopped talking to Minister Modi. According to sources, the relationship worsened when Pushkar got the information that the general administration ministry would be given to the Janamat Party and that the Cabinet would be reshuffled within a few days.

According to sources close to Secretary Pushkar, he is not interested in staying in the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration. "If the minister is not transferred from the Ministry of Federal Affairs, Secretary Pushkar will ask for his own transfer," said another employee close to the secretary.

 
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