The High-level Federalism Implementation and Administrative Restructuring Directive Committee has decided not to create any new government posts until the existing staffers are adjusted in different layers of the government. 

With the new constitution envisioning three layers of government—central, provincial and local—the high-level committee, headed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, is currently working on administrative restructuring of the federal set-up.  

According to officials at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) , if any post needs to be created to fulfil the urgent need of any provincial or local bodies, it should be created on a condition that the post will be adjusted in the same layer of the government in the future.

Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, secretary at the PMO said that the high-level committee decided not to create new posts until administrative restructuring process is completed because doing so would add burden on the central treasury.

“The decision to discourage recruitments has been taken as it could complicate adjustment process of existing government staffers,” said Thapaliya, adding that the next Cabinet meeting is expected to approve the decision of the high-level committee.

PMO officials said the process of administrative restructuring is expected to take two years. Although the Public Service Commission has invited applications for various government posts in the recent months, Thapaliya said it would stop the recruitment process after the Cabinet decision.

Currently, there are around 82,000 civil servants and around 30,000 staffers recruited by the local bodies such as municipalities and village development committees.

Under the federal set-up, they need to be sent to serve the different layers of the government—central, provincial and local. However, the government is yet to take decision on the matter.

Thapaliya said that the high-level committee also decided to instruct Ministry of General Administration to prepare a bill on sending the government staffers in different layers of the government.

Recently, High-Level Administration Reform Commission, led by Administrative Court Chairman Kashi Raj Dahal, had suggested keeping just 25 percent of the existing number of civil servants and local body staffers at the central level.

“Of the remaining government staffers, we have suggested keeping 35-40 percent at the provincial level and the rest at the local level,” said Dahal.

The Dahal-led commission had also suggested reducing the number of the ministries at the central level to just 13 with  10 at the provincial level. Dahal is of the view that there should be more government staffers at the local level to deliver better service.