Kathmandu, May 16: Inconsistency of policy, absence of stable political framework and lack of maturity in the leadership have stood out as the major impediments in the reform of civil service over the years, Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya said.

“Defining of the government’s role in the delivery of goods and services, right sizing of bureaucracy and above all transparency in the decision making process are the thrust areas for the reform of the civil service, Acharya said.

He said that reform of the civil service is a continuous process. The Nepali Congress government had initiated the task nearly eight years back and is still pursuing it with due commitment, Acharya said.

“The issue of reforms encompasses a wide area like depoliticisation of bureaucracy, developing of a system of reward and punishment for employees and a mechanism for curbing corruption,” Acharya said.

Acharya was addressing a pre-budget discussion on “Civil Service Reform as Priority Agenda in the Forthcoming Budget” organised by the Public Administration Association of Nepal here today.

Acharya reiterated the need to bring about clarity in policy making, adherence to rule of law and viewing of reforms through a comprehensive approach encompassing macro economic reforms and decentralisation so as to facilitate the delivery of goods and services.

Former Secretary Goraksha Bahadur Nhuchhe Pradhan said that though the process of reforming the civil service had been started in 2048 B.S. It could not gain momentum owing to the frequent change of governments.

He said that the government must define development goals bearing in mind the capacity to attain the goals.

Pradhan said that until and unless the government pays enough salary to the civil servants to sustain their families, all efforts to bring about reforms in the civil service would remain a far cry.

He said that attention should be focussed on promoting work culture and creating congenial atmosphere in the work place while pursuing reforms.

Former Secretary Bhola Chalise said that the lack of clarity in policy had stood out as the major hurdle in the efforts to reform the civil service.

The reforms in the policy framework to facilitate the smooth functioning of the bureaucracy and the setting of norms to define the delivery of goods and services are pre-requisites to reform the civil service, Chalise said.

Member of the Planning Commission Shankhar Sharma said instead of spelling out the budget for civil service reforms, the government must show the commitment regarding the issues that it intends to address for civil service reforms.

Sharma suggested that the employees of key Ministries should be involved in identifying the issues in need of reform.

He said that the government had been doing its homework to find out where the things had gone wrong in its eight year long pursuit for civil service reforms.

President of the Public Administration Association of Nepal, Mahendra Mishra said that the government must initiate efforts to create the environment for attracting the cream manpower to join the civil services.

Referring to the harsh reality Mishra said that the limited attraction in the civil service had caused intellectual manpower to drift away and only best of the worse individuals were left to join the civil service as a last resort.