KATHMANDU, Sept 1: No sooner had lawmakers found common ground on the controversial cooling-off period in the Civil Service Bill a new dispute has erupted—this time over how long civil servants should be allowed to serve before retirement once the new Civil Service Act comes into effect.
At Monday’s meeting of the Legislative Management Committee of the National Assembly, the age question took centre stage. The Bill, already endorsed by the House of Representatives, proposes that civil servants retire at 60. But the provision comes with a phased rollout: employees turning 58 would retire in the first year of enactment, those turning 59 in the following year and the 60-year benchmark would only be enforced from the third year.
Will Major General Pandey step down amid age dispute?
The phased plan has split lawmakers along party lines. Ruling CPN-UML and Nepali Congress (NC) members argued that the retirement age should start at 59 immediately upon the Act’s enforcement. In contrast, opposition lawmakers from CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) insisted that the Bill should stick to the lower house’s version, starting at 58.
Members of the opposition parties argued that it is not right to alter such a crucial provision now for a Bill already passed by the House of Representatives. They also warned against moving the goalposts midway.
But others disagreed. NC lawmaker Anand Prasad Dhungana pressed for pragmatism: “This issue should move ahead as per the government’s proposal. Let’s implement the 59-year retirement age starting from the year the Act is enforced.”
UML lawmaker Gopal Bhattarai supported Dhungana saying accepting the government’s proposal would be a convenient path forward.
The debate is more than a tussle over numbers. The decision is likely to directly shape career timelines for thousands of civil servants across the country—affecting pensions, promotions, and succession planning within the bureaucracy.
With the government required to present the bill to the House of Representatives by September 2, the countdown is ticking. Whether the final provision leans toward 58, 59 or 60, the outcome will likely ripple across Nepal’s civil service for years to come.
