Kathmandu, September 15
The Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Federal Affairs and General Administration has directed all ministries, commissions, secretariats, the offices of the chief ministers and councils of ministers of all seven provinces, and local governments to compulsorily release civil servants who have been transferred within the prescribed period.
The ministry issued the directive after finding that transferred employees were being retained at their previous offices under various pretexts and were continuing to receive salaries and allowances from those offices even after their transfers had been decided.
In a circular issued on Monday, the ministry said the Civil Service Regulations require transferred employees to be released within the stipulated period. If an employee is not released within that period and continues to receive salary and allowances from the previous office, the amount paid beyond the prescribed joining period will be recovered from the concerned office chief and accounts chief responsible for the payment.
According to the ministry, employees have recently been denied release even after the expiry of the joining period set by the regulations. Some have continued working at their previous offices under various excuses, while their salaries and allowances have also continued to be paid from those offices.
The ministry said such practices have created serious problems in service delivery at the local level by contributing to shortages of human resources.
It has therefore instructed all concerned bodies to release transferred civil servants within the period prescribed by law, warning that failure to do so will invite action in accordance with the law.
The ministry has also requested the Office of the Auditor General to treat salary and allowance payments made to transferred employees without releasing them as arrears during audits.
Similarly, it has asked the Financial Comptroller General’s Office to direct subordinate Treasury and Accounts Controller Offices to assist in implementing the transfer decisions.
The ministry said the move is aimed at ending a long-standing situation in which transfer decisions were made but not implemented, and is expected to improve administrative stability and ensure more effective implementation of transfer decisions.
