House to endorse Civil Service Act Amendment Bill soon
KATHMANDU:
The Legislature-Parliament is all set to endorse a Bill with some new provisions to revamp civil service structure and prevent civil servants from acquiring Permanent Resident status in foreign countries. A civil servant’s wife or husband, who is not in government service, however, will be allowed to acquire Permanent Residency in foreign countries.
The parliamentary State Affairs Committee today endorsed a report of its sub-committee headed by lawmaker Ramesh Lekhak and decided to table it to the Legislature-Parliament for endorsing the proposed Civil Service Act Amendment Bill by incorporating new provisions mentioned in the report. The report will be tabled at House meeting immediately after the House session begins. With the passage of the Bill, there will be six cluster services — Nepal Engineering Service; Nepal Agriculture and Forest Service; Nepal Judicial Service; Nepal Foreign Service; Nepal Administration Service and Nepal Auditing Service — within the civil service.
As Nepal Judicial Service and Nepal Foreign Service are already in practice, remaining four will be the new ones.
“Once the additional cluster services come to practice, it will have three benefits — allowing the civil servants to develop their expertise on specific area making them more efficient; helping to devise and implement government plans and policies with better vision and preventing the current malpractices of making haphazard transfers,” said UML lawmaker Gangalal Tuladhar, who is a member of the sub-committee.
The Public Service Commission will open vacancies for all six cluster services separately as per the new provision, and the government will have to arrange, through Regulation, various sub-clusters within the six clusters, Tuladhar said.
However, Nepal Engineers Association, submitting a memorandum to SAC Chairman Dil Bahadur Gharti, a few days ago, had opposed separate engineering service, saying that it will limit the career of engineers who are in government service. There are around 50 Joint Secretaries, who are from engineering background and are candidates for the post of secretary.
As per the new provision, civil servants will be barred from applying and taking PR; Diversity Visa and Green Card. Any citizen can inform or complain at the concerned office if any civil servant is found having PR of a foreign country and the concerned office should sack him/her within three months if found guilty, disqualifying the civil service in question for any government service in future. Such civil servant will not get any other facilities, which civil servants are entitled to get, except the money collected on his/her provident fund and insurance.
If wife or husband of a civil servant is holding PR, the concerned civil servant should inform his/her office within 30 days. The heir (wife or husband) will not get any other benefits except the provident fund and insurance amount in such a situation. Those currently holding PR will have to inform their office within 30 days after the Bill becomes Act and will have to relinquish the PR within 60 days to prevent him/her from being sacked. A Section Officer from any of the six cluster services can be the candidate for internal promotion to the post of under secretary of any of the cluster services.
The new provision has mentioned that vacancies must be filled within one month.
Added provisions
• Six cluster services: Engineering; Agriculture and Forest; Judicial; Foreign; Administration; and Auditing for specialized civil service.
• If any civil servant is found holding PR; DV or Green Card will be sacked from service by disqualifying him/her for government service in future
• Wife or husband of civil servants will be eligible for PR, DV or Green Card
• A section officer from any of the six cluster services can be the candidate for internal promotion to the post of under secretary of any of the services
Source: THT
