Civil servants working inside Singha Durbar, the government’s main administrative centre, who should be leading their peers deployed elsewhere by example, perform poorly when it comes to office discipline.

A study conducted by the National Vigilance Centre (NVC) revealed that the maximum number of civil servants remaining absent during office hours and not wearing office uniform in the last fiscal year were those working within Singha Durbar.

This goes against the Regulation on the Discipline of Civil Servants that requires government officials to report to office on time and to wear the uniform along with the identity card.

In surprise inspections conducted by the NVC, a body under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), as many as 542 government staffers at Singha Durbar were found to have violated the rule.

A total of 2,321 government staffers violated the rule last year. The NVC is tasked with overseeing these issues besides collecting property details of public officials.

“Data show that the administrative leadership within Singh Durbar failed to ensure that employees observe discipline,” said Bishnu Raj Lamichhane, the NVC spokesperson.

A majority of the ministries and key government agencies are housed inside Singha Durbar from where the chief secretary commands around 90,000 civil servants deployed across the country.

Those failing on punctuality and official uniform numbered the highest, as seen during inspection at the Singha Durbar main gate, according to the NVC.

After Singha Durbar, most violations of the regulation were spotted at other government offices in Kathmandu. As many as 251 staffers of offices such as the Land Revenue Office, the Department of Foreign Employment, and Survey Office, which cater to a large number of service seekers every day, were found to be flouting the regulation. Outside Kathmandu, officials deployed to Dhanusha, Jhapa, Morang and Mahottari districts were found to be flouting the regulation in large numbers.

Lamichhane said the NVC suggested that the offices concerned take disciplinary action against those failing to adhere to the set requirements. “Office chiefs usually take action such as by issuing warning letters and marking absence in the attendance register,” said Lamichhane. “Such disciplinary records may harm their career prospects as actions remain registered with the offices concerned.”  

Despite disciplining by the NVC every year, there has been no improvement. For instance, as many as 1,563 government staffers were found absent during an inspection of 1,102 offices last fiscal year.