“And besides, most of the employees sent were already reaching retirement age and did not even have sound computer knowledge,” said Chiribabu Maharjan, mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City.

Lalitpur is not the only local government that has not accepted employees sent by the federal government. Three months ago, Dhulikhel Municipality too had rejected half-a-dozen employees sent by the centre, stating that the employees sent to them did not meet their needs.

“The centre sent us employees with rankings of sixth and seventh levels, which were not needed for us,” Ashok Kumar Byanju Shrestha, mayor of the municipality, told the Post.

According to the Federal Affairs Ministry, local governments returned around 70 staff adjusted in line with the Employees Adjustment Process. Most of the returned employees are from the Kathmandu valley.

“The local governments need mostly the technical staff related to agriculture, health and livestock but the centre sends administrative staff,” complained Byanju Shrestha, who is also the president of the Municipal Association of Nepal, a grouping of the country’s municipalities.

Local governments’ refusal to accept employees through the adjustment process has angered the central government. By issuing a circular on Monday, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has warned local governments that if it refuses to accept adjusted staff the central government would halt the grants it provides local governments, along with taking other necessary measures.

For the current fiscal year 2019-20, the central government has allocated Rs213.82 billion under conditional grant and fiscal equalisation grant. In addition to these grants, the local governments have also received complementary grant and special grants for specific projects. Bhupal Baral, spokesperson at the ministry, told the Post that local governments are legally bound to take the employees adjusted as per the law. “Refusing to take them is a violation of the federal law which cannot be allowed,” he said.

In the circular, the federal affairs ministry has quoted section 13(7) of the Employees Adjustment Act, which states that the administrative chief or an official of a local or provincial government should register the attendance of the employee adjusted as per the law. “Any official failing to do so would face action as per the prevailing law,” section 13(8) of the law states.

Although the administrative chief of the local government has the responsibility to register their attendance, some of them have returned the employees by writing letters, the ministry said.

Responding to the centre’s warning, local governments have said that they would respond sternly against any move halting the grant entitled for the local governments. “This warning suggests arrogance of central government,” said Byanju. “We will go to the court against any such move from the central government.”