KATHMANDU, Sept 17: A secretary-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Eknarayan Aryal on Tuesday decided to send a proposal to the Cabinet to lay off 20 percent of government employees, nearly 10,000 staff. But officials themselves doubt the decision will actually be implemented.
This is not the first attempt to trim down the bureaucracy. Several previous governments have announced staff reductions, including in budget speeches, yet none were carried out. Instead, ministries have repeatedly increased the number of central employees through Organization and Management (O&M) surveys.
During the previous KP Sharma Oli government, a 10 percent staff layoff was announced in the budget speech, but ministries showed no interest in implementing it.
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According to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA), during staff adjustment in 2075 BS, 48,409 positions were approved at the federal level, 22,297 at the provincial level, and 66,908 at the local level, totaling 137,614 positions.
The 62nd Annual Report of the Auditor General shows that by the fiscal year 2080/81 BS, the federal government had added 3,151 positions to those sanctioned in 2075 BS. The report also notes that various ministries, without conducting the required O&M survey under the Civil Service Act, approved 10,171 temporary positions in different agencies by 2080/81 BS.
MoFAGA officials say provincial and local staffing has remained mostly static, while federal positions continue to grow—driven largely by employees’ preference to work in Kathmandu.
MoFAGA Secretary Rabilal Panth said the latest secretary-level decision “has prepared the basis to advance the reduction process” of central staff.
However, under existing law, two Cabinet approvals are required: first to authorize the O&M survey, and again to approve the ministry’s proposed cuts. The Chief Secretary alone cannot enforce the decision. Cabinet action is also contingent on prior approval from the Ministry of Finance.
The meeting’s main goal was to curb public expenditure. Over the years, numerous reports—including those by the Public Expenditure Review Commission (chaired by Dilliraj Khanal) and the Administrative Reform Suggestion Commission (chaired by Kashiraj Dahal)—have urged reducing central staff, but none of those recommendations were executed. Even during KP Sharma Oli’s second and third terms as prime minister, similar announcements went unfulfilled.
Newly appointed Finance Minister Rameshore Khanal has also pledged to cut public spending. Chief Secretary Aryal’s decision aligns with that pledge. “It would be good if this decision were implemented, but it may remain only a popular gesture without real action,” said one ministry official.
