KATHMANDU, July 2: The State Affairs and Good Governance Committee has requested the Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Devraj Ghimire to form a high-level probe committee to investigate the conspirators involved in tampering with the Federal Civil Service Bill 2024 before its passage from the lower house of parliament.
The bill courted controversy after its passage from the House of Representatives (HoR) on Sunday as clause 82 sub-clause 4 of the bill sets a two-year ‘cooling-off period’ for retired government employees, restricting them from taking constitutional or governmental positions. However, sub-clause 5 of the same clause nullifies the provision as it mentions that civil servants of secretary and joint secretary levels can still take such positions.
Chairperson of the committee Ramhari Khatiwada told a meeting of lawmakers held on Wednesday after the 83rd meeting of the committee that the meeting had decided to request the Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Devraj Ghimire to form a high-level probe commission to investigate the issue.
Lawmaker Khatiwada informed Republica that a delegation of lawmakers have already met with the speaker and requested the formation of the probe committee.
Mr Speaker, Either Prove or Apologize!
“We know there was a conspiracy to alter the bill as the final draft differed from the one approved by the committee,” Khatiwada said, “In line with the decision of the committee, we have already requested Speaker Ghimire to form a probe panel to identify the conspirators.”
The meeting of the committee on Wednesday also decided to request the National Assembly to revise the Federal Civil Service Bill 2024 to root out the controversy relating to the ‘cooling-off’ period for retired civil servants.
“The re-introduction of sub-clause 5 which nullifies sub-clause 4 is a mistake from the bureaucracy,” Khatiwada said in the meeting, “The committee has decided to request the National Assembly to amend the bill before its presentation in the upper house.”
Khatiwada added that controversy over the bill highlights the importance of having a bi-cameral system of democracy. “The very existence of the upper house of the parliament helps to correct the mistakes of the lower house,” Khatiwada told Republica, “It is a matter of paramount significance that the upper house now amends the bill to enact the cooling-period provision.”
The clause 82 sub-clause 5 of the bill allows civil servants of first class gazetted officers and special class gazetted officers to take constitutional and diplomatic positions as well as positions at inter-governmental agencies and international development partners.
The controversial sub-clause 5 was initially presented as sub-clause 4, but was replaced with the current sub-clause 4 after it faced criticism in the parliament.
According to members of the State Affairs Committee, which approved the amendment of the bill prior to its presentation on Sunday, the committee members had unanimously decided to redact the erstwhile sub-clause 4 which nullifies the much-hyped provision related to the cooling-off period barring retired civil servants from taking other high-profile positions within two years of retirement.
Lawmaker Khatiwada said that the meeting of the State Affairs Committee also decided to request Speaker Ghimire to form a high-level committee to investigate the controversy and find out the people who tampered with the bill.
“People have conspired to re-introduce the sub-clause in the bill,” he said, “We have decided to request the speaker to form a high-level probe committee to investigate the controversy and expose the conspirators.”
