National
Govt moots ordinance to allow ‘voluntary’ adjustment for civil servants
The government is set to bring out an ordinance to replace the existing law on adjustment of civil servants after it failed to resolve the problem in managing proper human resources at province and local levels.The government is set to bring out an ordinance to replace the existing law on the adjustment of civil servants after it failed to resolve the problem in managing proper human resources at province and local levels.
The ordinance would repeal the Civil Servants Adjustment Act that came into effect last year with the mandatory provision for the civil servants to join adjustment plan.
The new law, which would offer the civil servants to choose whether or not to go for adjustment at new provincial and local governments. It is also expected to speed up the deployment of sending necessary human resources to provinces and local levels.
Those civil servants wishing not to join voluntary adjustment would be kept in a pool from where government would deploy them as staff of federal government where necessary.
“As the civil servants have been offered attractive package to join the adjustment at the province and local levels and those in the pool would have less chance of personal growth, we believe most of them would opt for adjustment,” said Kedar Paneru, joint secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA). The draft of the ordinance was registered at the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday after being endorsed by the Finance and Law Ministry.
However, many civil servants harbour doubts that the new provision would to attractive enough to convince those already working at provincial and local governments.
Those opting for adjustment with promotions may resign after being elevated to higher positions, according to them. A section officer claimed that the new ordinance did not have any lucrative provision for their personal growth.
But Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lalbabu Pandit claimed that those filling the form for adjustment would set their own priority area but the government would send those unwilling to fill their forms to places it deems necessary.
“All the adjustments of the civil servants will be completed within two and a half months,” Minister Pandit said, adding that the Cabinet would endorse the ordinance after consulting with the Public Service Commission. The government will also unveil the Federal Civil Service Act soon, he added.
After the implementation of this ordinance, the government would send all those willing to go for adjustment to the newly formed governments and then allow the provinces to request the federal government to fill the remaining positions.
The draft suggests promotion for the eligible civil servants opting to serve at the provincial and local governments, and other benefits, including double grades, for those ineligible for promotion. They can also choose their places to be adjusted and the couples would be allowed to remain at the same place.
As most of the civil servants are opting for urban areas, the authorities say, the government has no other 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 October 15, 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.