The 30-year service period in the police remains the same

The officer including SSP who joined the police service on August 16, 2051, filed a writ on August 5, demanding to remove the service period. The bench of Supreme Court Justice Hari Phuyal gave an interim order and fixed the hearing for October 10, giving priority to the writ. But the government went to the vacate on Tuesday through the Attorney General's Office demanding the cancellation of the interim order.

Supreme Court Spokesperson Achyut Kuinkel said that the order came as requested in the vacancy petition and the interim order issued earlier regarding the service period has been cancelled. Now, at least 90 police personnel from DIG to Inspector are going on compulsory retirement due to their service period. If the Supreme Court's interim order were to continue, there would have been upheaval in the current role order in the police, and there would have been a change in the officers going to the next leadership.

Nepal Police has a system of retirement from three provisions namely 30 years service period, rank-wise fixed age limit and rank-wise tenure. Out of the three provisions, whichever comes first, there is a provision to retire. AIG Bhim Prasad Dhakal of the Human Resource Department of the Police Headquarters has written to the police units and other agencies across the country to implement the interim order. However, according to Friday's order, all the police personnel who have completed 30 years of service, including the petitioner, have to go on compulsory retirement.

After the interim order was issued in favor of the writ filed by the police officers, DIG Durga Bhattarai and Abhi Khatri along with SSP Vishwa Bhattarai and SPs Purna Saud, Uddhav Rawal, Tribhuvan Bista, Ashok Shakya, Dhan Bahadur Singh, Prem Bahadur Rawal, Amber Bahadur Air, Gopal Shrestha and Dipendra Giri also filed a petition in the armed police on Sunday demanding to remove the 30-year service period. A bench of Justice Saranga Subedi, while hearing the writ, asked the government to submit a show-cause order regarding the service period and a written reply within 15 days. According to the order of the Supreme Court, 16 people, including the DIG of Armed Forces, had to go on compulsory leave from 16th August.

Home Minister Ramesh Akhtar said on Friday that the issue of 30-year service period has reached the court and it is everyone's responsibility to follow the order. He said that according to the judgments about the writs filed in 2070 and 2072 regarding the period of service, because the Police Act has not been amended, now the police officers and the government are going to court against each other. He informed that the government is trying to amend the Police Act to end this situation.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the bill has been drafted by keeping the provisions of police service and conditions in the law. The Home Minister author informed that the provisions in the draft have been sent to the Ministry of Finance for opinion and after receiving the opinion from the Finance Ministry, it will be submitted to the Council of Ministers in the form of a bill with the approval of the Law Ministry.