KATHMANDU, Oct 4: A few days after parliament was prorogued, a group of senior bureaucrats have intensified lobbying to introduce the proposed Federal Civil Service Bill through ordinance after tweaking some of the key provisions to benefit themselves. 

Sources said “influential” bureaucrats have been lobbying for passage of an ordinance that will include provisions such as increasing the mandatory retirement age to 60 and extension of the term of the chief secretary for a year and that of secretaries for two years if the government deems it necessary. 

Those lobbying for an ordinance include mainly those retiring soon as secretaries because of the mandatory retirement age in the existing Civil Service Act. Sources familiar with the development said nearly a dozen secretaries including Prem Rai, Dinesh Thapaliya and Mahesh Dahal are exerting pressure for introduction of the Bill through ordinance. 

The Federal Civil Service Bill was left pending at a Cabinet Committee when parliament was still sitting, and discussions on the Civil Service Bill have now been started at subcommittee level.

A cabinet meeting on Sunday formed a 10-member subcommittee headed by Laxman Mainali to study the draft of the Civil Service Bill and revise it.

Officials said the process of introducing the ordinance shall begin after the subcommittee submits its report. 
Besides extending the mandatory retirement age and the terms of the chief secretary and secretaries, there is also pressure to remove the cluster concept in all services except the foreign, legal and health services, for the posts of secretary, and to do away with open competition for under secretary and joint secretary positions.

Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lal Babu Pandit said the Civil Service Act will have provisions that are deemed appropriate. “We have expedited work to complete the adjustment of government employees in the federal setup by mid-January. We will have in place all the provisions necessary to make that happen,” he said. 

The adjustment of civil servants in the local and provincial level governments has fallen into limbo after a section of senior government employees expressed serious reservations over some of the provisions of the current Federal Civil Service Bill. The number of government employees in the federal government has been kept unnecessarily high, amid pressure to retain most offices under the federal government. 

While government employees below secretary level have expressed serious dissatisfaction over such preparations, administration experts also argue that controversies of this nature should be deliberated in parliament before introducing them in an Act. “The preparations to introduce an ordinance now even though there was enough time to introduce the bill in parliament is not a good thing. This will destroy the system.

The proposed provisions are also likely to block the career prospects of those below secretary level,” said administration expert Bhim Dev Bhatta.

 
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