Kathmandu, February 23

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, which was supposed to complete  adjustment of civil servants in the federal, provincial and local levels by mid-February, has said that it would take two more weeks to complete the task.

While the adjustment of government employees is one of the major tasks that needs to be completed to make federal structures functional, the MoFAGA stated that around 23,000 civil servants were adjusted till date.

At least 77,000 out of 89,000 civil servants had applied for adjustment through the online application system of the ministry.

Talking to The Himalayan Times, MoFAGA Spokesperson Suresh Kumar Adhikari said the ministry would expedite the process as the president had authenticated the Ordinance on Civil Servants Adjustment Bill yesterday.

“Though we missed the first deadline set by the government, the process will be completed by the next two weeks,” he said.

According to him, adjustment of government employees, except from the health service, has almost been completed. Health sector has at least 25,000 civil servants, according to the MoFAGA.

As per Adhikari, 57 secretaries had been adjusted in the federal government, while 575 out of 676 joint secretaries have also been adjusted in the federal level and the rest are with the provincial level.

Among the 2,006 under secretaries, 1,192 have been adjusted in the federal government, 576 in the provincial levels and 238 in the local levels.

Similarly, integration of 3,707 section officers (gazetted third class) has been completed in the federal government, while 568 and 327 officers have been sent to provincial and local levels respectively, Adhikari said.

Among the 6,477 non-gazetted first class officers (Nayab Subba), 3,981 were adjusted in the centre, 1,163 in the local levels and 1,333 in the provincial level, he said, adding that 3,114 non-gazetted second class officers (Kharidar) were adjusted in the federal

government, 378 in the provincial level and 1,114 in local levels.

Adjustment process, however, excludes government employees working for foreign, legal and parliamentary services. As per the government data, there are 276 civil servants in the foreign service, while 3,605 and 257 are in the legal and parliamentary services.

Besides, adjustment of some under-secretaries in agriculture and technical (engineering & forestry) services under the administration sector has not been made yet.

According to Adhikari, adjustment of civil servants working in the health service sector has not begun yet. “The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration will carry out adjustment of around 25,000 employees of health services in the three tiers of the government,” he said, adding that the process would take at least a couple of weeks to complete.

Adhikari further informed that the ministry was trying to get all the data from the Department of Civil Personal Records.

“It is difficult to collect updated status of civil servants because of their promotion, transfer and other reasons,” he said.

Some errors have also been made in the adjustment process. For instance, some medical doctors who are working in the federal level were also sent to the local levels.

“Of course, the ‘complicated’ process also has some errors.”

A joint committee led by the minister of federal affairs and general administration would discuss ways to rectify errors once the adjustment process is completed, according to him.

The panel formed by the government has chief secretary, secretary at the MoFAGA and secretary at Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs as its members.

According to the ministry’s latest Organisation and Management survey, the centre has positions for 48,409 civil servants while the seven provinces need 21,399 and local levels 66,750 government staffers.

“After the adjustment of civil servants, the local and provincial governments can fill the positions of civil servants in the respective areas on their own,” Adhikari said.