Kathmandu, October 1
The government has said the Federal Civil Service Bill registered in Parliament will provide an important foundation for the effective implementation of Nepal’s federal governance system.
Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration Pratibha Rawal made the statement regarding the bill, which was registered in Parliament on Thursday.
The Civil Service Bill has been prepared to amend and consolidate laws relating to the federal civil service.
After the bill was registered, Minister Rawal said it had been finalised following extensive study and broad consultations.
According to Rawal, the bill is expected to make the civil service more capable, effective, efficient, accountable and results-oriented, while bringing significant changes to performance and accountability.
“We believe this will not only provide an important foundation for the effective implementation of the federal governance system but also become an important milestone in the direction of good governance and public administration reform,” she wrote on social media.
Rawal said she had made the bill a clear priority after assuming responsibility for the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration.
She recalled that one of her priorities was to bring the long-pending Federal Civil Service Bill to a conclusion and establish a strong foundation for public administration reform and good governance.
She also said the government aims to simplify, speed up and make public services more transparent and technology-friendly through extensive digitisation and automation, including in land administration.
Civil Service Bill linked to unresolved issues of federalism
The government’s 100-point agenda for governance reform had stated that the bill would be drafted within 45 days of the formation of the government. However, its progress has been delayed.
Previous Houses of Representatives had also considered the bill, but it was never transformed into law.
The bill is closely linked to the implementation of federalism. Following the adoption of federalism, the government carried out the major task of adjusting civil servants among the federal, provincial and local levels.
However, issues relating to recruitment, jurisdiction and which level of government civil servants should come under remain unresolved.
Provincial Public Service Commissions have been established as required by the Constitution. However, employees working at provincial and local levels are still under the federal government.
The bill had also been introduced during the previous term of the House of Representatives amid disagreement over whether provincial chief secretaries, secretaries of provincial ministries, chief administrative officers of local governments and accounting officers should remain under the federal government.
The bill did not progress as expected amid arguments that keeping federal government employees under provincial and local governments was contrary to the spirit of federalism.
These issues will now be discussed again in Parliament.
Retirement age becomes another point of debate
The proposed retirement provisions have also sparked discussion.
The government has advanced a draft proposing retirement for civil servants who have reached the age of 55 or completed 30 years of service.
According to the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration, employees retiring at the age of 55 would be treated as having completed 58 years of service for pension purposes.
The ministry says the provision would ensure that employees taking early retirement would not lose their retirement benefits.
Bill unlikely to be passed in current session
The government is preparing to end the ongoing session of the Federal Parliament on October 2. The parliamentary calendar for the House of Representatives has been prepared up to October 2 as part of this process.
Although the bill has now been registered in the House of Representatives, it will have to wait for the next session to move through the legislative process.
Once the next session begins, the House will hold a principle-based discussion on the bill. Following the discussion, lawmakers will be given 72 hours to submit amendments.
The proposed amendments and the bill will then be considered together during clause-by-clause discussions.
The process will take place in both houses of Parliament. Once both houses pass the bill, it will be sent to the president through the House in which it originated.
The bill will come into force as an Act after the president authenticates it.
