National
Ordinance plan to replace staff adjustment Act
As the existing law to adjust civil servants in the provincial and local governments failed to address the burning problem of adjustment, the government is preparing to replace the Act through an ordinance.Tika R Pradhan
As the existing law to adjust civil servants in the provincial and local governments failed to address the burning problem of adjustment, the government is preparing to replace the Act through an ordinance.
Some authorities said the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MOFAGA) has prepared a preliminary draft of an ordinance to replace the existing Act which was approved last year.
The country is in dire need of clear legal provisions on adjustment of civil servants at the earliest, as the provincial and local governments are reeling under problems caused by the lack of necessary human resources.
Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lalbabu Pandit said the government will complete the adjustment of the civil servants within mid-January next year.
“We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the civil servants are adjusted to the provincial and local governments within the next three months,” Pandit said, adding that the existing law could also be replaced through the ordinance.
However, the ministry officials said they have not yet decided whether to amend the existing Act or to replace it.
“We have yet to decide whether to replace the whole Act with the ordinance or only amend some necessary clauses of it,” said MoFAGA secretary Dinesh Thapaliya.
With the existing Act failing to adjust the civil servants, the ministry has been preparing to address the issue through a new law.
The ministry had also tried to address the issue of introducing the Federal Civil Service Bill but that could not move ahead after the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee directed the government to not bring such an important law through ordinance, without adequate discussion.
The bill is currently under discussion at a subcommittee of secretaries led by Laxman Mainali. The MOFAGA has been working on the ordinance by forming a task force that includes Joint-secretary Kedar Paneru, who heads the Civil Servants Adjustment Section at the ministry. Paneru said they were holding discussion with the representatives of the Law Ministry.
The draft suggests promotion for the civil servants opting to serve at the provincial and local governments, and other benefits to be given to them if they are ineligible for promotion.
With most of the civil servants opting for urban areas, the authorities claimed that the government has no option but to come up with laws with provisions that could attract the civil servants to the provincial and local governments.
The existing Civil Service Adjustment Act, which was passed on 15 October 2017, has a provision to prepare the Organisation and Management report within six months of its endorsement, while the government should complete all the adjustments within six months of endorsing the report. However, the government has not even prepared the O&M report yet.