As the government is concentrating on political affairs only, bureaucracy is facing hard days due to the government’s failure to appoint 11 Secretaries– top bureaucrats of the country.
Talking to Nepalnews, Spokesperson at the Ministry of General Administration Shyam Prasad Mainali admitted that cabinet was yet to take final decision to fulfill the vacant posts of Secretaries since it normally takes more than two months.
He said that though the ministry, which is responsible for the management of civil servants, is yet to get formal information about the government’s homework to appoint acting Secretaries to fill the vacant top posts of the bureaucracy, he said he had heard that the government is working in this regard.
He informed that as per the Civil Service Act, joint secretaries have to submit details to claim for the post of Secretary mentioning their achievements. Then Secretaries at the concerned ministry review the file before sending it to the committee headed by the Chief secretary.
The committee headed by Chief Secretary comprises, Secretary at the same ministry and Secretary of the Ministry of general administration as members and evaluates the qualification of the candidate and prepares final list of the successful candidates before sending it to the cabinet for approval.
Mainali informed that as the deadline for applying for the post of Secretary expired on Sunday, it will take around two months if everything goes well. He, however, said that as the tenure of the acting Chief Secretary is expiring on August 2, delay in the appointment of the Chief Secretary might also delay the process of appointing new Secretaries.
Eleven posts of Secretaries are vacant at present including five regional administrators. One more post of Secretary will be vacant after the Chief Secretary retires.
Mainali further said that the secretaries have to make clear rating and inform the candidate that whether he was selected or not for the post based on his performance. He expressed hope that proposed amendment in the civil service Act will address the problem.
Talking to Nepalnews, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance Krishna Hari Baskota said that the evaluation process is confidential, adding, there are some merits and also some demerits in the system. He, however, did not elaborate whether the confidential system should be scrapped in the amendment in the Civil Service Act.
Writing a letter to the editor of Nepal Samacharpatra daily on Tuesday anonymously, a joint secretary of the Nepal government, said the evaluation process under the civil service regulation is not appropriate and practical, adding that the provision to allow secretaries to provide 35 marks out of 40 marks for work evaluation was not appropriate.
He further alleged that the provision of appointing Secretaries of the concerned ministries in the committee headed by Chief Secretary was also inappropriate.
Officials are tight-lipped on the all-important issue.