Kathmandu, June 3

Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties today demanded withdrawal of the public notice issued by the Federal Public Service Commission for recruitment of civil servants for 9,161 posts at local levels, stating the move was against the spirit of federalism and principle of inclusion.

“This is not a transitional period (as the country has already moved from unitary to federal system of government). So, FP- SC’s decision to issue the public notice for recruiting employees at local levels is illegal,” ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Yasoda Subedi told the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee. “The government should have waited until the endorsement of the Federal Civil Servants Bill, which is under discussion in the Parliament,” added Subedi.

Main opposition Nepali Congress lawmaker Dilendra Prasad Badu said the FPSC should immediately withdraw the public notice although the intention was to recruit staff for posts that remained vacant after civil servants from the centre were adjusted in provinces and local levels. “We’ll talk to the federal government in this regard,” he said.

The FPSC issued a notice on Wednesday for recruitment of 9,161 civil servants in 515 local levels as per the instruction of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration.

The FPSC had invoked the provision on ‘principle of necessity’ in the Government Employees Adjustment Act to make the vacancy call.

This move has infuriated lawmakers and provincial governments, as they see it as an attempt by the federal government to encroach upon the territory of provincial governments, which are legally authorised to hire local level employees.

They are also furious because the decision was taken without adhering to the principle of inclusion.

The notice issued by the FPSC, for example, has not allocated seats for all the clusters that qualify for reservation as mentioned in Article 42 of the constitution.

“Also, how was the notice issued without conducting operations and management surveys as such studies can only identify the need for human resources at each local level?” questioned Subedi, demanding withdrawal of the notice.

NCP lawmaker Brijesh Kumar Gupta and lawmaker of Samajbadi Party-Nepal Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav also demanded withdrawal of the notice stating it was against the spirit of federalism and the principle of inclusion.

FPSC Chair Umesh Mainali, however, said the constitutional body was “unnecessarily being dragged into controversy”.

“We issued the public notice as per the central government’s request,” said Mainali. “Had we ignored the request, many probably would have said we failed to follow the government’s instruction.”

He asked the parliamentary committee to come up with a decision on the matter as soon as possible, as thousands of candidates had started preparing for the exam.

Committee Chair Shashi Shrestha said the panel would invite officials of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration for discussion before taking a final decision.