Kathmandu, May 28

Lawmakers in the Parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee today debated for and against hiring top level bureaucrats — chief secretary, secretary and joint-secretary — on a contract basis.

During a clause-wise discussion of the Federal Civil Servant Bill, most of the lawmakers spoke in favour of hiring civil servants on a contract basis. But some lawmakers said the government should not hire civil servants on a contract basis.

The government has been hiring top level bureaucrats from the Public Service Commission as of now. Ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker and former minister Janardan Sharma said it would be a good practice to hire top level bureaucrats, including chief secretary on a contract basis.

“The government should hire those people who can deliver on their work,” he said. “Why can’t we have a provision in place that allows to hire chief secretary through an open competition?” he questioned.

Lawmaker of the main opposition Nepali Congress Sujata Pariyar also said there should be an open competition while hiring top level bureaucrats.

Jhapat Rawal, a lawmaker representing the NCP said civil servants in bureaucracy never updated themselves and didn’t function as per the expectation of people. “So, there should be a provision allowing people to enter in this field through an open competition,” he said. He also suggested the government for a provision of 50 per cent open competition quota for the post of joint secretary in civil service.

However, the NC lawmaker Dilendra Badu and the NCP lawmaker Ram Kumari Jhakri suggested that the government should not hire top level bureaucrats through an open competition stating that doing so would negatively affect this sector, also known as the permanent government.

Badu said civil servants in Nepal came from meritocracy. “There should not be any hirings of bureaucrats on a contract basis,” he said. But, he was for an open competition in hiring civil servants.