Thousands of fresh aspirants were denied their right to join govt service due to the court's delayed verdict
Belated though, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has quashed most of the writ petitions filed against the recruitment vacancies announced by the Public Service Commission (PSC).
The court decision has now paved the way for moving ahead with the recruitment process of almost 1,000 positions to be fulfilled for the provincial and local governments. However, it took three years for the five-member bench to deliver its verdict, which is akin to the proverbial phrase "justice delayed is justice denied". Thousands of new aspirants who wanted to join the government service had been denied their constitutional right to pursue a profession of their choice because of the court's inordinate delay in delivering the verdict. The delayed verdict on the issue not only deprived the new aspirants of the opportunity to join a government job, but also caused a huge loss to the nation, which could have otherwise benefitted from fresh university graduates. Such a crucial issue, which affects thousands of youths, should have been settled within a few months so that the PSC could start the recruitment process afresh.
On the other hand, the provincial governments and local levels also remained dysfunctional due to lack of human resources. The government employees had filed 99 writ petitions against the government and PSC as they were unhappy with the government's decision to adjust them to the lower levels.
Those petitions were filed by those who were keen to join a particular local level but were adjusted to different local levels; those who were adjusted to junior posts due to lack of equivalent posts; and the spouses who were not allowed to work together. Most of the government employees wanted to stay with the federal government, fearing they might be deprived of a promotion once they were transferred to the lower tiers of government. With the apex court verdict, the PSC will proceed with filling up almost 1,000 vacancies to the posts ranging from junior clerk to under-secretary. The government had argued that the fresh vacancies were opened after the retirement or death of some employees. The court has, however, told the government to address the concerns of reservation seats put aside for the clustered groups.
It has been seven years since the new constitution came into force. The constitution has clearly stated that the new structures shall be created as per the constitutional provisions, such as the provincial public service commission and provincial police force, both of which are to be handled by the provincial governments. However, the parliament has yet to draft laws related to them. Shortly after the new constitution was adopted, the political and judicial systems were restructured, based on which elections for the three tiers of government were also held, and courts of appeal were converted into High Courts.
But the bureaucracy and police force, which were functioning under the control of the central government, remained to be readjusted due to lack of laws.
The shortage of human resources the provincial and local levels are currently facing will not be fulfilled unless the federal parliament enacts laws governing their recruitment, function, duties and rightful opportunity to their promotion to the higher positions.
Ineffective bandh
People's patience seems to be running out with the political parties, as was evident during the bandh called by the Netra Bikram Chand-led Nepal Communist Party and three other fringe parties on Tuesday.
Not only was it ineffective with buses and other vehicles, though slightly less than on other days, plying the city roads and highways, but some vandals also met their match in Banepa, finally, when they were thrashed by the locals. For too long, the parties, big and small, have been using bandhs as a weapon to press their points home, indifferent to the hardships they pose to the people.
It's time for the parties to mend their ways if they want to stay popular with the common people. Talking about development on the one hand and shutting down schools and colleges or extorting large sums of money from the business people to run parties on the other hand cannot go together in a democracy.
On Tuesday, millions of children stayed home because the schools remained shut as they did not want trouble with the bandh enforcers, curtailing their right to an education. It would do the parties a lot of good to heed the writing on the wall with independents making inroads into politics, once solely the domain of the parties.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 25, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
