KATHMANDU, April 23: The official trade union of civil servants has asked the government to immediately endorse the Federal Civil Service Act in order to make the recruitment, promotion, and transfer of civil servants and fixing their salaries more systematic in all the three tires of government in the new federal setup.
Chairman of the trade union, Punya Prasad Dhakal, said that as the current Civil Servants Adjustment Act does not guarantee systematic promotion and transfer of civil servants who are being adjusted in the new federal setup, the government should immediately endorse the Federal Civil Service Act.
“The adjustment act only talks about adjusting the civil servants in the new federal setup. But there are no clear provisions about how the adjusted civil servants will be transferred and promoted, and what their salaries will be like if the civil servants to be transferred are from the central to the provincial or local level,” he said, adding, it is also not clear if the civil servants adjusted in the local and provincial levels can seek transfer to the federal level in the future.
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“So, there are many technical issues that the current adjustment act doesn't include. The lack of a law which guarantees the career growth of civil servants has also been a major factor for the reluctance on the part of the civil servants deployed by the government to go to their new work stations in the local and provincial bodies,” he said.
“We submitted all our suggestions that should be considered while drafting the Federal Civil Service Act several months ago. But still, the government is yet to finalize the bill and table it in parliament for endorsement,” he said.
Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lal Babu Pandit said that the ministry is working on the bill. “We are making internal preparations to finalize the Federal Civil Service Bill. But we still cannot say by when the government will be able to table the bill,” he said.
Kashi Raj Dahal, chairman of the High-Level Administration Reform Suggestion Committee, said that a meeting is going to be held on Thursday in a bid to give the final shape to the bill as soon as possible.
An official at the ministry of general administration said that the committee is pushing the government to endorse the bill as soon as possible through ordinance if required. “It has been realized that the temporary adjustment of the civil servants have become tough in the lack of a law that guarantees career growth,” said the official who didn't want to be named.
The ministry had deployed over 1,500 civil servants in the provincial and local bodies two months ago. But even as of now, some deputed officials are yet to assume their new offices. Similarly, last week, the ministry asked application from civil servants willing to be deputed to the local level.
