On May 29, the Federal Public Service Commission issued a notice to recruit 9,161 civil servants in 515 local levels as instructed by the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration. Ten days after the public notice, the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee directed the government to scrap the notice as the process was against the spirit of the constitution and the principle of inclusion. Since then Minister of Federal Affairs and General Administration Lal Babu Pandit has publicly said his ministry will not roll back the decision, creating a rift between lawmakers and the government. Jagdishor Panday of The Himalayan Times met Yasoda Subedi Gurung, lawmaker and member of the parliamentary committee, to discuss the issue. Excerpts:

The parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee has directed the Federal Public Service Commission to halt the process of hiring 9,161 civil servants for 515 local levels. But the government is not in a mood to implement this decision. What is your take on this issue?

We started discussion on this issue after provincial governments and federal lawmakers protested the move stating that the federal government was trying to infringe upon the rights of provincial governments. During discussions, senior officials of the ministry concerned were also summoned. Separately, we also reviewed the content of the advertisement. Our investigation showed that the process initiated by the federal government for hiring local level staff was unconstitutional as it had not followed the principle of inclusion. The constitution clearly says quotas have to be allocated for socially backward women, Dalits, members of indigenous groups, Madhesis, Tharus, Muslims, members of backward classes, minorities, people of marginalised communities, and persons with disabilities to ensure social justice.  The government told us the advertisement was published as per the provisions of the Civil Service Act that was enforced before the country moved from unitary to federal system of government, as the new Civil Service Bill was still under discussion at the federal Parliament. But we found that the hiring process did not conform with the principle of inclusion enshrined in the Act. The Act clearly says 45 per cent of the total seats have to be allocated for people who qualify for reservation quota. The constitution also clearly says that local governments have the authority to manage employees on their own.

But Minister Lal Babu Pandit said his ministry and the FPSC had followed all the legal process for hiring employees, didn’t he?

If local levels fall short of employees, they must ask their respective Provincial Public Service Commission to hire staff for them. Clause 12 (1) of the Civil Servant Adjustment Act has also given authority to the PPSC to hire local level employees. But in the absence of the PPSC, local levels can reach out to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, which can then direct the FPSC to do the needful. Some argue that the FPSC was right to publish the vacancy notice as the PPSCs had not been formed yet. But everyone knows federal lawmakers have passed guidelines and criteria for formulation of the PPSC Act. Based on this, provinces have started drafting their own PPSC bill, which may be passed in two months or so. Our question is why didn’t the federal government wait for two months as we had waited for such a long time to put various systems in place since the elections? If the federal government was in a hurry it could have provided technical assistance to provinces to expedite the process of finalising the PPSC bill.

The parliamentary committee Chair Shashi Shrestha had said the directive to halt the recruitment process was issued to help the government correct its mistake. But the government says it has not made any mistake. What’s your take on this?

Clause 12 (1) of the Civil Servant Adjustment Act clearly says that local levels should first reach out to the PPSC to hire staff. The local levels can only ask the federal government to hire employees if the PPSC has not been established. The federal government has used this loophole to publish the advertisement as it knows no PPSC has been established till date. But it failed to acknowledge that the rationale behind the provision was to facilitate local levels in extraordinary times. The federal government knew the PPSCs would be formed, but it did not wait. We all know that the federal government has already transferred staff from the centre to local levels. This was done on the basis of operation and management (O&M) surveys conducted by the federal government. Local levels now should conduct O&M survey on their own, as per the mandatewas given by the Local Government Operation Act, and demand additional staff based on parameters such as workload, revenue generation capacity, local requirement and special conditions. But local levels are yet to conduct this survey. Yet the federal government initiated the process of hiring staff at the local levels, which goes against the spirit of the Local Government Operation Act. What is also surprising is that the federal government has issued vacancy notice without identifying the needs of local levels. We found that most local levels lack legal experts. As a result, they have not been able to settle many legal cases. But most of the posts up for grabs are of administrative level.

The FPSC says it published the vacancy notice based on the government’s instruction. Do you think the FPSC made a mistake by taking the call without adhering to the principle of inclusion?

Yes, there was a mistake. The FPSC and the government claim separate vacancy notices were issued for each local level that needed staff. We were told that at the local levels where, say, three vacant positions were available, one was allocated to a woman. And at local levels where only one vacant position was available, selection would be made on the basis of merit. But the advertisement published by the government clearly says all the selections will be made on the basis of merit. This means no applicant will be selected on the basis of reservation quota. What this process also means is that rural areas will not get quality staff. At present, candidates are allowed to select their work area based on scores they get in exams. Most of the time, candidates with better scores choose to work in urban areas. If selections are made on this basis, then better candidates will find placements in urban areas while mediocre candidates will be sent to rural areas. We want this system to end. That’s why we want employee hiring process to be decentralised so that rural areas can get better staff.

Minister Pandit is in no mood to implement the committee’s directive. Does this mean the rift between lawmakers and the government will further widen?

We don’t want to start a fight with the government. The situation probably would have gotten worse had we not issued the directive. The government should realise that its decision to publish the vacancy notice goes against constitutional norms. The government cannot refer to a supplementary provision in an act to publish advertisement while overlooking provisions in the Local Government Operation Act and Civil Servant Act. The government should also realise that local levels may face problem of overstaffing if it does not correct its mistake. This is because many local levels are facing shortage of employees with certain set of skills while the vacancy notice has sought employees with completely different set of skills. Also, the federal government’s decision won’t help institutionalise federalism in the country.

So, how can this problem be resolved?

This issue has now reached the Supreme Court. I hope the court will look into the constitution as well as different laws and come up with an appropriate decision.