Federal Civil Service Bill Draft Moves Forward Without Employee Union Provisions

Kathmandu. The draft of the Federal Civil Service Bill, which has removed the provision for trade unions for employees, has been moved forward for legislation by the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Federal Affairs and General Administration. The ordinance, brought by convening the Federal Parliament session, has been made into a proposed bill by the ministry and is being advanced. Ministry's joint secretary and spokesperson for general administration, Ekdev Adhikari, informed that the draft of the bill has been moved forward. 'We have moved forward the process of making the bill draft into law. The ministry had sent it to the Ministry of Finance for approval,' Joint Secretary Adhikari told Ratopati. 'The Ministry of Finance has approved it and sent it back to the ministry.' According to Joint Secretary Adhikari, the ministry is now preparing to send this bill draft to the Ministry of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs for approval. After approval from the Ministry of Law, it will be presented to the Council of Ministers for passage. After passing from the Council of Ministers, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers will send it to the Office of the Public Service Commission for its opinion. After receiving the opinion from the Public Service Commission, the legal process of submitting it to the Federal Parliament Secretariat will be followed, Adhikari said. The government had included most of the provisions in the act passed by the previous House of Representatives in the ordinance. The proposed bill sets the maximum age for entry into civil service at 35 years for women and 32 years for men. The retirement age is proposed at 60 years. Similarly, the draft includes a cooling-off period provision, where employees who resign or retire from civil service cannot take constitutional or political appointments for two years from the date of resignation or retirement. 'Employees who resign or retire from the post of gazetted special or first class in federal civil service or other government service will not be appointed to any constitutional, diplomatic, or other government post until two years have passed from the date of acceptance of resignation or retirement from service,' the provision is mentioned in the bill draft. Currently, the Civil Service Act, 2049, which is in effect, does not have a cooling-off period provision. The government had included most of the provisions in the act passed by the previous House of Representatives in the ordinance. The same provisions included in the ordinance have been included in the current draft. Important issues such as the cooling-off period, retirement age of 60 years, and entry into civil service were passed by the previous House of Representatives but could not become law as the National Assembly did not pass them. The government has also included the provision of a Civil Service Board in the draft to make the transfer, appointment, and career management of gazetted second-class and below civil employees accountable. The draft maintains the new provision included in the ordinance that the tenure of civil employees at the 14th level (Chief Secretary) will be two years and at the 13th level (Secretary) will be two years, but the government can extend the tenure of civil employees at the 13th level by a maximum of one year based on performance. The draft states that employees who have retired will not be allowed to work as employees or consultants for the organization they worked for or an organization regulated by such an organization within one year of retirement, and such employees will not receive the benefits according to the act. The government has also included the provision of a Civil Service Board in the draft to make the transfer, appointment, and career management of gazetted second-class and below civil employees accountable. The draft includes new provisions such as not transferring gazetted third-class officer-level employees to the responsibility of office chief without completing a minimum work period, not transferring gazetted second and third-class civil employees for three years, not transferring staff-level employees between ministries before completing four years, specifying minimum and maximum periods for employee transfers, and not keeping any employee in the same post and same responsibility in the same office for more than four years.