KATHMANDU, Sept 7: The government has once again failed to identify a Best Civil Service Employee, marking the eighth consecutive year without this recognition. As a result, the Civil Service Day celebrations on Saturday proceeded without the announcement of the Best Employee Service Award. Civil Service Day is observed annually on September 7, but since 2017, none of the 86,000 civil servants have been recognized with this honor.

According to sources, the Best Civil Service Award will not be given this year due to a lack of qualified and capable candidates.

A selection committee meeting for the Civil Service Award took place on Friday afternoon. Following the meeting, Kali Prasad Parajuli, spokesperson for the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, confirmed that no one would receive the Best Civil Service Award this year.

Parajuli stated that 20 employees still received the Civil Service Award, and another 20 were honored with the Excellent Civil Service Award. The selection process for these awards was overseen by a committee chaired by the chief secretary, with representatives from the Ministry of Federal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

The Best Employee Award, worth Rs 200,000, was last presented in 2016 to Shantaraj Subedi. Since then, the award has been discontinued. The government has been felicitating civil servants with awards since 2004 as part of the Civil Service Day celebrations.

Till date, only four individuals have received the Best Civil Service Award. Notable recipients include Surya Gautam, former Controller of Examinations (2011), Bhagwati Kumar Kafle, former Secretary of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (2012), and Bhai Kaji Tiwari, former Kathmandu District Commissioner of the Valley Development Authority (2013). However, some award recipients have faced controversy.

Civil Service Rules establish specific criteria for employees to qualify for the Best and Excellent awards. Candidates for the Best Award must have made a special contribution either individually or institutionally during the year, served in the civil service for at least eight years, and have no record of departmental penalties.

The selection process allows candidates to apply for the Best and Excellent awards through their respective ministries. The government can choose winners from both applicants and non-applicants.

When asked why the Best Award was not given this year, a senior official suggested that the issue was not the lack of qualified candidates, but rather the need to improve the criteria and evaluation procedures for selecting the winner.

 
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