Prepare a transitional plan for transforming civil service into federal set-up: Experts

KATHMANDU, Sept 8: Public administration experts have asked the government to immediately formulate a transitional plan with the view to give continuity to the regular administrative services without creating any vacuum following the commencement of the proposed federal set-up in the new constitution.

The experts said Tuesday that the bureaucratic leadership isn't braced to face the changes as it hasn't formulated any transitional policies even though the country is on the brink of a federal system.They criticized the concerned authorities for not taking any initiatives for transforming the bureaucracy to fit in the to-be-adopted federal system, which was decided eight years ago. The Interim Constitution itself clearly states that the country is going to be federated into several provinces.

Speaking at an interaction program organized by the Ministry for General Administration in Singha Durbar on Tuesday to mark the Civil Service Day, former Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, criticized the government for not making any preparations on carrying out its day-to-day administrative tasks in a federal set-up even as the country is going to get a new constitution in matter of weeks.

"Once the new constitution is introduced, many existing administrative institutions are likely to be dismantled and new institutional arrangements are going to be needed. In such scenario, government employees may have to deal with uncertainly at work and it is likely to seriously disturb service delivery," he said, while presenting a paper at the program which was attended by all the secretaries of the government.

"So, I strongly urge the government to immediately prepare a transitional plan to continue the government's administrative works in the new political system," he said.

Bureaucrats and administration experts have speculated that it would take around five years for the government to set up all kinds of administrative institutions and enroll employees at all levels of the federal government.

Minister for General Administration Lal Babu Pandit said that the civil servants at the central level may be transferred to provincial level in the federal set-up to keep the provincial government functioning until the government makes permanent arrangements.

"We will carry out serious deliberation for preparing a transitional plan which shall not only carry out administrative works but also continue development related works at the same time. I expect support from all civil servants," he added.

Meanwhile, on the occasion of the Civil Service Day, the MoGA also awarded 30 government employees for best performance.

Related story

Bill bars local units from recruiting civil servants