Kathmandu, January 6
The federal government is preparing to amend the existing pecking order, according to which the mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, the country’s capital city, will get a higher rank than the chief secretary of the federal government.
The government has started preparations for the revision after elected representatives of local and provincial governments protested the order issued around a year ago. They had demanded that elected officials get higher status on bureaucrats in the democratic system.
Sources close to the Cabinet say the government has assigned Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Banskota and Chief Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi to finalise the new pecking order within next few days.
The two are preparing to table the document for a decision at the next Cabinet meeting, it has been learned.
The draft of new order has proposed that mayors of other metropolitan cities have a status above joint secretaries. Mayors of municipalities will also get the same rank.
Chairpersons of rural municipalities will be placed above undersecretaries.
Meanwhile, provincial chief ministers and federal Cabinet ministers have the same rank in the new system. However, the chief ministers will be superior in their provinces while federal ministers will be senior outside the provinces.
Provincial ministers will be equal to members of the Federal Parliament. Provincial lawmakers will also get a higher status than the chief secretary and other bureaucrats.
