KATHMANDU, JULY 25

Lila Devi Gadtaula, the first woman to serve as Chief Secretary, was appointed after today's cabinet meeting, marking a historic moment. She is the first female chief secretary in Nepal's history.

However, her tenure is going to be one of the shortest, as she will be retiring on August 31 due to her age limit as per the Civil Service Act. She will only be the bureaucratic head for 35 days.

The Council of Ministers met today and decided to appoint Gadtaula as Chief Secretary, informed Minister for Communications and Information Technology and Government Spokesperson Prithvi Subba Gurung.

After Chief Secretary Baikunth Aryal was suspended in a corruption case on June 23, the government, led by CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, appointed Senior Secretary Gadtaula as Acting Chief Secretary.

However, the government formed under the leadership of CPN-UML President KP Sharma Oli appointed Gadtaula the permanent Chief Secretary today.

The Civil Service Act of 1993 states that the Chief Secretary will serve for three years and the Secretary for five years. However, she would be over the age of 58, which is the age bar at which the secretary should retire automatically. Gadtaula joined the civil service in December 1995 as a section officer.

Gadtaula has a Masters in 'Human Rights and Gender' and Political Science. She was recommended first out of 17 people for section officers in the judicial service at the time.

She was appointed Deputy Secretary in 2006, Joint Secretary in 2013, and Secretary in 2020. She only worked for the Ministry of Law for 17 years. However, she was denied the opportunity to be the first female law secretary. Gadtaula was born in Terhathum in 1966, and she majored in law.

Chandrakala Kiran became Nepal's first female secretary in 1984. Although Sewa Lamsal is the Foreign Service's first female secretary, her appointment was viewed as a step toward female leadership in civil administration.

Currently, 20.64 percent of civil service employees are female. The Department of National Personnel Records reports that there are 24,143 female employees out of 85,512 total. At present, there are eight female secretaries. With Gadtaula as chief secretary, there are now seven female secretaries.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli also congratulated Chief Secretary Gadtaula on social media.

'Congratulations to the newly appointed Chief Secretary, Lila Devi Gattoula!!,' reads his post. 'For the first time, women have been given leadership roles in administrative services across the country. Today's cabinet meeting appointed Lila Devi Gadtaula as the government's chief secretary.'

Meanwhile, Oli posted on social media on Friday morning that several friends had written about Nepali women achieving high levels of leadership the day before. 'I am also pleased that these four coincidences are the result of my positive initiative,' he stated.

Prior to this, Nepal had set several milestones, including electing women as president, chief justice, speaker of the house, and foreign secretary. Bidya Devi Bhandari was Nepal's first president, and Sushila Karki served as its first Chief Justice. Similarly, Onsari Gharti was the first female speaker in the House of Representatives. Sewa Lamsal, the current foreign secretary, is also a female.