Civil servants have said that the government betrayed them by not introducing the provision in the Civil Servants Adjustment Bill for allowing those adjusted to the local and provincial governments to work in the federal service.

The bill currently at the Parliament Secretariat has a provision which states that civil servants adjusted in local and provincial governments cannot fight for the federal government service.

Clause 15 (G) of the bill, registered on Thursday, states that the adjusted civil servants can be promoted for provincial and local services through inter-service competition.

This provision, according to experts, effectively bars those working at the provincial and local level from competing for promotion to the federal government services.

Former secretary Bhim Upadhyay claimed that the issues being raised by the civil servants were justifiable. “Transfers and promotions of civil servants must be opened for all three tiers of government,” Upadhyay said. “Or else, it could hamper their career growth and affect their performance.”

Civil servants have been protesting against this provision ever since the Civil Servants Adjustment Ordinance was introduced, annulling the Civil Servants Adjustment Act.

They have claimed that their career prospects would end and that such a move would discourage youths, who wish to become the secretary of the federal government, from getting into the service.

One of the major provisions of the previous Civil Servants Adjustment Act, which was scrapped before it came into force when the ordinance was issued, had that the civil servants serving four years at a provincial administration could compete for the services at the central government.

Claiming that the new provision of barring civil servants from entering the federal government would discourage aspiring youths, civil servants union leaders have called on the government to change the provision.

“Since the civil servants to be adjusted would go from the federal government, they must be allowed to work at the Centre,” said Surendra Adhikary, senior vice-president of the Nepal Civil Service Employees Union (Association).

He said the new provision of not allowing local and provincial government workers to serve the federal government could apply only if they are hired by the respective governments.

In the nine-point agreement made with the official trade union of civil servants on January 3, the government had agreed to allow those adjusted to the local and provincial governments to be promoted to the central government service.

But what the ministry authorities had promised was not included in the Civil Servants Adjustment Bill.

Punya Dhakal, chairman of the official trade union of civil servants, said the government had agreed to include the provision of promoting the adjusted civil servants to the federal government through the new Federal Civil Service Act.

However, Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lalbabu Pandit said the government could not include such provisions due to constitutional hurdles.

Article 285(2) of the constitution states that positions in the federal civil service and the federal government services shall be filled through competitive test on the basis of open and proportional inclusive principle. Article 302(2) states the government may arrange for the delivery of services by adjusting the employees serving in the government services in accordance with the law.

Minister Pandit, during a meeting with civil servants on December 23, had assured that the government would address their career concerns.

Article 243 (6) states that the Public Service Commission should be consulted on matters concerning the transfer or promotion from other government services to the federal civil service or for a change in service or transfer from a position in a provincial civil service to a position in the federal civil service or from a position in the federal civil service to a provincial civil service.

The authorities say the provision to allow civil servants of local and provincial governments to be promoted to the federal government would leave no space for new entrants as envisioned by the constitution.