State institutions to bar staff from having foreign DV/PR

Kathmandu, August 19

Following recent changes in the Civil Service Act, barring bureaucrats from acquiring foreign diversity visa, permanent residence and citizenship, other government institutions, including Nepali Army, Nepal Police and Tribhuvan University, will also amend their laws to prevent employees from acquiring permanent foreign residence.

The state-run corporations will also follow suit, as the government has made it mandatory for all public servants to choose either a foreign DV/PR or a government job.

Armed Police Force has already amended its regulation to fall in line with the amended Civil Service Act.

After the act was amended last month, one month was given to public servants to declare if they had DV or PR. They were given another month to either give up foreign DV/PR or the government job.

The one month deadline to declare foreign DV/PR is over. Now the Ministry of General Administration has issued a circular to all the ministries and government departments to disclose how many government employees declared foreign DV/PR.

Minister for General Administration Lalbabu Pandit, who spearheaded the campaign to amend the act, said according to guesstimate 1,000 to 1,200, or about 1.5 per cent of 83,000 bureaucrats, have foreign DV/PR.

“Some of them have already put in their papers, citing personal reasons,” he told The Himalayan Times. “The number of such government employees will be clear once we get details from all ministries.”

According to Pandit, two incumbent secretaries, Shreedhar Gautam and Nabaraj Bhandari, resigned from their posts last week due to changes in the act. APF Deputy Inspector General Durga Bahadur Kunwar is among those who resigned from his post citing “domestic reasons”.

The Nepali Army, with more than 93,000 personnel, 67,400-strong Nepal Police, APF with a staff of 30,000 and Tribhuvan University with 15,000 teachers and staffers are the state institutions with the largest number of employees holding foreign PR/DV.

Acting VC and Rector of TU, Prof Gunanidhi Neupane, said on an average four teachers or employees had been submitting their resignation per week. He said the process had already begun to amend the laws to bar teachers and employees from acquiring foreign residency cards.

The Nepali Army spokesman Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel said NA’s Legal Department was working to amend its laws in accordance with recent changes in the Civil Service Act.

Pokhrel admitted that scores of army personnel had resigned after the enactment of the new act, but it would be difficult to tell if they did so because they had foreign DV/PR, as none of them gave the exact reason behind the resignation.

Nepal Police has already sent a proposal to revise Nepal Police Regulations in accordance with the changed Civil Service Act to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which will be submitted to the Council of Ministers shortly.

Nepal Police spokesman DIG Kamal Singh Bam said at least one Deputy Superintendent of Police, Khem Khatri, had tendered his resignation, citing personal reasons. He said scores of police personnel might have foreign DV cards but the NP had no official data for the same.

Nepali Army, police, TU amending laws

  • Minister for General Administration Lalbabu Pandit, who spearheaded the campaign to amend the Civil Service Act, said according to guesstimate 1,000 to 1,200, or about 1.5 per cent of 83,000 bureaucrats, have foreign DV/PR
  • The one-month deadline to declare foreign DV/PR is over. Now the Ministry of General Administration has issued a circular to all the ministries and government departments to disclose how many government employees declared foreign DV/PR
  • The Nepali Army spokesman Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel said NA’s Legal Department was working to amend its laws in accordance with recent changes in the CSA
  • Armed Police Force has already amended its regulation to fall in line with the amended CSA
  • Even in Tribhuvan University the process has already begun to amend the laws to bar teachers and employees from acquiring foreign residency cards