KATHMANDU, May 17: It has been found that government employees were transferred outside the established rules within the civil service.
According to the 62nd report of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), 75.39 percent of the transfers in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023/24 were made in violation of regulations.
According to Section 36 of the Civil Service Rules 2050 (1993), when a transfer of civil servants is necessary, it must be done within the following timeframes: ministries must complete transfers between the 1st of Bhadra and the end of the month, central bodies or departments must complete transfers between the 1st and 15th of Ashoj, and regional level bodies must complete transfers between the 16th of Ashoj and the end of the month.
If transfers need to be made outside the stipulated timelines, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration must provide consent. However, for administrative transfers, the consent of the ministry is not required. Taking advantage of this provision, ministries have been transferring employees arbitrarily and without proper adherence to the rules.
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According to the OAG report, a total of 2,077 employees were transferred in FY 2023/24. Of these, only 511 employees, including 64 gazetted officers and 447 non-gazetted employees, were transferred within the prescribed time frame in Bhadra. The remaining employees were transferred arbitrarily. Out of the total transfers, 24.61 percent were conducted within the time set by the regulations, while the remaining 75.39 percent were carried out in violation of the rules.
According to the regulations, transfers are generally supposed to be made after a minimum period of two years. However, most transfers have been carried out before this two-year period. The report mentions that transferring employees before the minimum duration results in increased costs, as transfer-related expenses must also be reimbursed.
Kali Prasad Parajuli, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA), stated that a serious review of the OAG’s report on transfers will be conducted on Sunday and the suggested recommendations will be implemented.
It has been found that there are serious irregularities in the deployment of Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) at the local level. According to Section 84(4) of the Local Government Operation Act, 2074, until a CAO is appointed in accordance with the law, the Nepal Government can assign a civil servant to work as a CAO. The report states that in the FY 2023/24, the MoFAGA deployed 1,417 civil servants as Chief Administrative Officers at local levels. Additionally, some employees were assigned to more than one local government in a single year.
The meeting of the National Development Problem Solving Committee, held on March 17, 2023, decided that due to the shortage of adequate manpower at the provincial and local levels, employees deployed by the federal government should be required to stay in the local government for at least one year.
However, the report indicates that this decision has not been implemented. It also mentions that the frequent transfers of CAO have affected the delivery of services.
According to the report, there are more than 10,000 vacant positions at the federal level and more than 15,000 vacant positions at the provincial level. As of the updated details on September 5, 2024, there are 51,917 positions at the federal level, 17,297 at the provincial level and 65,556 at the local level. The MoFAGA’s spokesperson, Parajuli, stated that the issue of a large number of vacant positions will also be reviewed.
