After a week of dispute and controversy, five major political parties in the House of Representatives have decided to set up a special parliamentary committee to look into the tampering of the civil service bill.

The decision was taken on Saturday during a meeting convened by Speaker Devraj Ghimire with the chief whips of the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Swatantra Party and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).

On Wednesday, the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee had requested the Speaker to form a high-level committee to probe the inclusion of a provision in the report on the Federal Civil Service Bill that dilutes the bill’s 'cooling-off period' mandate.

According to UML Chief Whip Mahesh Bartaula, the decision to form the committee was made following a discussion held on Saturday between Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire and leaders of various parties.

The committee had also requested the Speaker to find out who inserted a provision that nullifies its decision.

According to Bartuala, the committee will have seven members, two of them representing the Congress and the UML each and one each from the Maoist Centre, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and the RPP. The Nepali Congress will lead the probe, he added.

It has been agreed that members of the parliamentary committee in question will not be included in the investigating body. The committee will be formed after the parties submit the names of their representatives on Monday. The committee will look into the matter and identify the individuals involved in the shortcomings.

While preparing the report on the bill, representatives from the committee secretariat, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, and the Ministry of Law were involved in drafting clauses that rendered the provision ineffective, the State Affairs Committee concluded following the controversy.

“This act appears to be conspiratorial and malicious in the context of lawmaking. Therefore, it has been decided to request the Speaker of the federal parliament to arrange for a high-level parliamentary committee to investigate who was involved and how serious mistakes or offences were committed,” according to the decision forwarded by the committee to the Speaker.

According to Bartaula, the decision to form the committee was made in accordance with Rule 180 of the Parliamentary Regulations. The names of the members who will be on the committee are expected to be announced during the House of Representatives meeting on Monday.

Speaker Ghimire has asked all the parties to submit the names by Sunday, and emphasized that the subsequent meeting of the Business Advisory Committee will finalise the matter.

Chief Whip Bartaula added that the upcoming meeting of Parliament will approve the decision to form the committee. The committee will likely be given 15 days for the study.

However, Shekhar Adhikari, media coordinator for Speaker Ghimire, said the probe committee might be given three weeks to submit its report.

“The decision to form the committee should be endorsed by Parliament. Therefore, the decision will be presented to the House on Monday. The committee will have a very short period to complete its task like within 15 days…. This is linked to the internal affairs of Parliament. This will also set an example that such mistakes would not repeat in the future and any parliamentary task would be completed on a credible basis,” said Bartuala, after the meeting with Ghimire.

On Monday, ahead of the House meeting, a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee will finalise the candidates for the probe committee, Hitraj Pandey, chief whip of the Maoist Centre, said. The House will endorse it the same day.