The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has submitted a draft of the bill on Federal Civil Service to the Cabinet by retaining the retirement age at 58 years.

Although the Finance Ministry had suggested increasing the age to 60 years considering the rising burden of pension payment for retired employees and the increased life expectancy of Nepalis,  the General Administration Ministry (MoFAGA) kept the retirement age unchanged.

According to the Civil Service Act, a government official retires compulsorily in 58 years.

“We submitted the draft to the Cabinet a few days ago without changing the existing retirement age,” said Bhupal Baral, a joint-secretary. “It’s up to the Cabinet and lawmakers now to take an appropriate decision on the matter.”

After drafting the bill, the MoFAGA had sent it to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for their opinions. Law Ministry officials said they had no suggestion on the retirement age.

“We didn’t touch on the proposed age as it is a policy issue to be dealt by the MoFAGA itself,” said Subhas Kumar Bhattarai, under-secretary at the Law Ministry. Some argue that keeping retirement age low provides more space for younger generation to get into government service.

The Finance Ministry had argued that increasing the age would check the ever-growing pension liability that reached Rs40.14 billion last fiscal year. The amount accounts for nearly a third of salary and allowances received by serving government staffers in the period.

“As the average life expectancy of Nepalis increased substantially, it is better to raise the retirement age,” said a Finance Ministry official.