The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has taken a stance against allowing the Nepali Congress to lead the investigation committee being formed regarding the manipulation of the cooling-off period provision in the Federal Civil Service Bill.
Speaking at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee called by Speaker Devraj Ghimire on Monday, RSP Chief Whip Santosh Pariyar urged the NC not to make attempts to lead the investigation committee.
“Even for the sake of standard democratic practice, the Congress should not attempt to lead the committee,” he said. “The chairman should resign to pave the way for an independent and impartial investigation into the conspiracy and malicious actions that occurred during the law-making process of the sovereign Parliament.”
The NC had proposed party Joint General Secretary Jeevan Pariyar, who is also a member of the House of Representatives, as the coordinator of the investigation committee.
The Civil Service Bill was passed by the House of Representatives in a manner that differed from the decision made by the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee.
NC lawmaker Ramhari Khatiwada is the chairman of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee. He has been demanding an investigation on him as well in connection with the cooling-off period issue.
The State Affairs and Good Governance Committee had decided to request the National Assembly to uphold its decision regarding the cooling-off period and to request the speaker to form an investigation committee. Following this, the speaker initiated discussions to form the committee.
The cooling-off period provision was included in the bill prohibiting civil servants from taking up constitutional and diplomatic appointments for up to two years after retiring or resigning.
