Another showdown between the federal and provincial governments looms.

With the federal government reluctant to readjust the police force and pass the federal civil service law as demanded by Madhesh, all seven provinces have joined hands to put pressure on the Pushpa Kamal Dahal administration to oil the wheels of federalism.

On November 9, a team of all-party representatives from Madhesh Province issued a 30-day ultimatum to Dahal to address their six-point demand, warning of a protest if Kathmandu took no urgent step to fully implement constitutional provisions for the smooth functioning of provinces.

The team led by Saroj Kumar Yadav, chief minister of Madhesh, also threatened to launch a Kathmandu-centric protest if the issues related to the devolution of authorities enshrined in the 2015 constitution are not sorted within the deadline. Receiving the memorandum, Dahal had promised to address the demands soon.

However, nearly three weeks since the ultimatum, the federal government has not done anything concrete to calm the agitated provincial leadership, prompting other provinces to express solidarity with Madhesh. On Tuesday, the internal affairs ministers from the seven provinces are set to submit a memorandum to Dahal seeking the authority to manage provincial police and the law necessary for provincial governments to start recruiting their own civil servants.

“The provincial governments have not been able to work in a full-fledged manner as they still don’t have their own police and civil servants,” Santosh Kumar Pandey, internal affairs minister of Lumbini Province, told the Post. “We have decided to team up to build pressure on the federal government. There is unanimity among all the provinces that we cannot wait any more.”

Though the federal parliament in August 2019 endorsed the Police Personnel Adjustment Bill and the Bill to Govern the Operation, Supervision and Coordination of Nepal Police and Provincial Police Forces, the federal government has been hesitant to adjust the police at the provincial level. The adjustment Act authorises the federal government to assign a deputy inspector general (DIG) of Nepal Police to serve as the police chief of a province.

The federal government can transfer such police officers to other provinces or any department of Nepal Police in consultation with provincial governments.

However, in case of other personnel adjusted to provincial police forces, the relevant provincial official can transfer such personnel to any police unit within the province. Ignoring repeated demands of the provinces, successive federal governments have left the Act unimplemented.

These governments also paid little attention to the passage of the Federal Civil Service Act. The provincial governments say the federal government should issue the law through an ordinance if it is not possible to get it endorsed through the federal parliament immediately. The federal parliament remains prorogued.

Eight years since the promulgation of the Constitution of Nepal, the Civil Service Act is yet to be promulgated. The explicit responsibility to manage provincial police administration and provincial civil service rests with the provincial governments, as per the statute.

A meeting of the internal affairs ministers from the seven provinces held in Chitwan on Thursday and Friday concluded that the provinces needed to exert collective pressure on the federal government.

Mohammad Samim, internal affairs minister of Madhesh, told the Post: “We have a common understanding that we will not rest until we get to exercise our constitutional authority.”

This, however, is not the first time the provinces have organised against the centre to claim their constitutional rights. In an attempt to press the federal government on police adjustment and to resolve issues related to civil servants, internal affairs ministers of the seven provinces had issued a seven-point demand in July last year.

The Madhesh provincial leaders had also presented a memorandum to the earlier government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba. The chief minister and ministers even staged sit-in protests at their offices, to little effect. But the memorandum was later withdrawn.

Samim said all the provinces will start joint protests from December 10, a day after the 30-day deadline passes. “There will be no compromise this time,” he said.