KATHMANDU, JUNE 8

Minister of Federal Affairs and General Administration Ramanlal Modi today said he wanted to introduce federal civil service bill in the Parliament, but he could not do so as other concerned ministries had not decided on the draft bill.

Speaking at a press conference at Singha Durbar today, Minister Modi said federal civil service bill and good governance were among the top priority agenda of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and he had prepared the draft of the bill in accordance with the PM's priority, but he could not move the draft bill ahead as the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs were yet to give their consent on the bill.

'I keep reminding these two ministries, but they are yet to decide on the bill,' Minister Modi said. He said that he had consulted almost all stakeholders - former and incumbent bureaucrats, secretaries, ministers and trade union office bearers.

Minister Modi said government employees were still reluctant to go to remote himalayan and mountain regions to serve people.

He said some local levels refused to allow the under secretaries sent by the ministry to work in the area of their jurisdiction. He said out of 85-86 under secretaries that were posted in the local levels, 16 had returned to the ministry as the concerned local levels refused to allow them to work in their offices.

He said employees that were adjusted in the lower tiers of the government wanted to move to accessible places but his ministry had stopped inter- local level transfer.

The minister said he had directed the secretary of his ministry to immediately send government employees not accepted by the local levels to two provincial governments Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces that were facing shortage of human resources.

Trade union office bearers had opposed some provisions of the federal service bill draft saying that the provisions related to posting and promotions were not fair and the government needed to modify those provisions before registering the bill in the Parliament.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 9, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.