Government secretaries, led by Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal, have begun lobbying to remove the two-year cooling-off period for retired employees proposed in the Federal Civil Service Bill, which was passed by the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives.
They previously met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and urged them to remove the cooling-off period. On Thursday, they are scheduled to meet Speaker Devraj Ghimire and National Assembly Chairman Narayan Prasad Dahal.
The secretaries have arrived at the Federal Parliament Secretariat in Singha Durbar to meet Speaker Ghimire. They will meet National Assembly Chairman Dahal at 2 p.m.
Lawmakers on the House committee agreed to include a provision in the Federal Civil Service Bill that requires federal employees to wait for two years after they retire to become eligible for appointments to constitutional posts, including ambassadorial roles.
However, government secretaries have been lobbying to remove the two-year cooling-off period saying the provision would adversely affect employees.
They are also pushing for an increase in the retirement age limit. They have demanded that employees be retired at 59 years in the fiscal year the law is enacted and at 60 years in the following year.
The Civil Service Bill, having been passed by the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee, is now headed to Parliament. The secretaries have been exerting pressure to remove the cooling-off period before the bill reaches Parliament.
During discussions in the committee, lawmakers from the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Center) supported a two-year cooling period, while UML lawmakers were in favor of a one-year period. The home minister had sought time to resolve the issue through discussions. After the home minister proposed a two-year cooling period in the committee, it was passed by consensus, but now the secretaries are attempting to overturn the provision.
