KATHMANDU, Dec 3: The positions of secretary at various ministries and agencies of the provincial governments are currently vacant. In provinces such as Bagmati, Madhesh, Gandaki, Karnali, and others, the posts of secretaries remain unfilled. Madhesh Province has the highest number of vacant secretary positions. As a result, the performance of these ministries and agencies has been negatively impacted.
When the federal government employees at the level of joint-secretary go to the provinces, they are designated as secretaries at the provincial level. Similarly, there is a provision that when federal secretaries go to the provinces, they are appointed as chief secretaries. However, secretaries and joint secretaries from the federal government do not prefer to go to the provinces. The legal framework mentions that the federal government should send chief secretaries and secretaries to the provincial governments.
Kali Prasad Parajuli, the federal affairs and general administration ministry spokesperson, said that there are three reasons why ministries and agencies of the provincial governments are without secretaries.
Parajuli said, “We send secretaries to the provinces based on the ministry. The provincial governments, without informing us, increase the number of ministries by splitting them. Therefore, the posts of secretary in these ministries remain vacant. Currently, there are no joint secretaries even in the federal government as per the rank.”
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According to Parajuli, 53 joint secretaries in the federal governments have retired due to age limit, so naturally the posts are vacant. He said that the Public Service Commission (PSC) has already initiated the process to fill these vacant positions.
According to Parajuli, there is a tendency among high-level employees in the federal government not to leave Kathmandu as far as possible. Even if they go outside Kathmandu, they return to Kathmandu within one/two months citing various reasons. As a result, the ministries and agencies of the provincial governments are without secretaries from time to time.
Parajuli said that the federal government will send secretaries to all provincial ministries and agencies by mid-March after the PSC fills the posts in the federal government. “After the PSC fills the posts, we must send them. By that time, the secretaries will reach the ministries of all the provinces,” he said.
According to Jay Kumar Raut, spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, there are seven vacant secretary positions in the Madhesh government’s ministerial bodies. Similarly, two positions of under-secretary are vacant towards the law group.
The positions of seven secretaries in the law group are vacant in the Ministry of Sports and Social Welfare; Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, State Assembly Secretariat, State Public Service Commission Office and Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers of Madesh State Government. Raut said that a secretary of the education group has reached the chief minister's office, but he has not been posted yet.
There are no secretaries in the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Co-operatives, Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers and Ministry of Youth and Sports of Bagmati Province Government. There is no secretary in the office of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning and Gandaki Provincial Policy and Planning Commission of Gandaki Province Government. The post of Secretary in the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers is also vacant in the Karnali Province Government.
The joint secretaries of the federal government do not prefer to go even to the metropolitan and sub-metropolitan cities. There is a legal provision to send a joint secretary from the federal government to the post of chief administrative officer of the metropolis and sub-metropolis.
As the position of secretaries in the provincial government and local bodies remain unfilled, the joint secretaries and undersecretaries in the federal ministries are left without work. Four joint secretaries in the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Home Affairs are currently without responsibility.
According to Parajuli, 32 under-secretaries and 50 section officers are currently unemployed in the federal ministry. These employees, who have not been assigned any responsibilities, tend to leave the ministry as soon as they sign in. They do not have a designated room and are condemned to sit in the veranda. They are placed in the reserve pool without being assigned any responsibilities. The number of such employees changes over time.
