The government on Monday registered a new Federal Civil Service Bill, which is vital for the implementation of federalism in the country.

It has been nine years since the country adopted a federal democratic constitution, but the bureaucracy is yet to be run in line with the federal system in the absence of federal civil service law.

The proposed law is supposed to work as an umbrella act setting standards for provincial and local governments to create provincial and local civil services.

Three years after withdrawing the bill previously registered in February 2019, the government registered the new bill at Parliament on Monday.

Amid lobbying from government employees having diverse interests, the bill previously registered at the House had remained pending at the House of Representatives for more than two years. The bill was withdrawn in October 2021 ahead of the elections in 2022.

Experts said that the provincial and local governments lagged behind in service delivery due to a lack of federal civil service law. “There is no stability in the bureaucracy of provincial and local governments as the federal government has been frequently transferring their top officials,” said Khim Lal Devkota, who completed his term as a National Assembly lawmaker on Sunday.

The provincial governments have long been complaining about the frequent transfer of their top officials at the whim of the federal government. The phenomenon has affected their service delivery, they say.

“The federal government also transferred many employees recruited for local governments a few years ago in large numbers to more accessible areas from remote areas,” said Devkota, who is also an expert on federalism and writes a column on federalism for the Post.

In 2019, based on the request of several local governments across the country, the federal Public Service Commission had taken exams for recruiting over 9,000 government staff.

In the absence of the Provincial Public Service Commission, the federal commission took the exam for their recruitment. The recruitment drive, however, had courted controversy as the provincial governments complained that the federal body was overstepping the jurisdiction of the provincial Public Service Commission.

Devkota said many of them who were recruited by local governments of the remote areas were transferred to more accessible areas.

Besides inviting instability in the bureaucracy of the provincial and local governments, there is a lot of confusion about how the promotion, perks, and incentives for civil servants adjusted at the provincial and local levels are granted. “Even though sub-national governments have introduced their civil service laws, they are not getting implemented as the federal law has not set any standards regarding the perks and facilities,” said Umesh Mainali, former chairperson of the Public Service Commission.

The stakeholders have long been questioning the commitment of the central government towards the implementation of federalism in the country citing the delay in introducing the federal civil service law.

Article 285 of the Constitution of Nepal mandates that federal, provincial and local governments have their civil services and that governments at each level enact their civil service laws.

The new bill presented at Parliament has also made provisions for provincial civil service and local services. As per the bill, the highest ranking government staff in the province will have 11th level. After 10 years, there will be 12th-level staff at the top position. The government adjusted at the provincial level will be a part of the provincial civil service. “Based on the standards set by this law, there will be the formation of provincial civil service and service conditions, the bill says.

Likewise, the federal government will send its 13th-level staff to work as principal secretaries of the provincial government. The principal secretary will not be transferred without the approval of the concerned provincial government, the bill states.

The federal government will send its 12th-level bureaucrat as provincial government secretary for 10 years until one is promoted from the provincial civil service after 10 years.

According to the bill, the federal government staff who were adjusted at the local levels will be the staff under the local service. “The local service will be formed as per the standard set by this law,” the bill states.

“The provision in the bill that the federal government will send its staff for the post of provincial government secretary until 10 years only is positive in terms of implementation of federalism,” said Mainali.

Experts said that there is still concern over whether the bill would be endorsed by Parliament any time soon considering that the bill registered earlier was stuck at the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee for two years.

Once the parliamentary committee endorsed a report on the bill, it was sent to the Business Advisory Committee of the lower house. The lower house, however, failed to pass it and eventually, it was withdrawn.

Experts point out that a section of bureaucrats aimed to serve their interests, causing delays in parliamentary endorsement in the past. The new bill was also registered several years after the withdrawal of the previous bill. “I don’t blame the politicians for the delay in introducing the bill,” Mainali said, “but the bureaucrats who have their vested interests.”