A bill related to Nepal Police and Armed Police Force (APF) removing the 30-year service period currently in force has been registered in the Parliament Secretariat. By removing the 30-year service limit in the police and armed forces, the government has registered the Bill-2081 in the Federal Parliament Secretariat on Tuesday to amend and unify both the police laws with the provision of retirement only based on tenure and age.

The government is preparing to submit both bills to the House of Representatives on January 18th. In the police and armed forces, the system of retirement based on 30 years of service, tenure and age limit is currently in place. By removing it, the provision of retiring only from the age limit and term of office has been laid down in the bill. The government is preparing to implement this system after the law is passed by the federal parliament.

Bill mentions that the age of Inspector General of Police and Armed Forces (IGP) will be equal to 60 years and the term of office will be 3 years. Now the age of both the IGPs is 58 years and the term of office is 4 years and the service period is 30 years. Currently, the term of office of Additional Inspector General (AIG) and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in both the police force is 5 years and the age is 56 years, now the tenure of AIG is 3 years and age is 59 years. The age of DIG will also be the same as that of AIG, but in case of tenure, 5 years has been proposed. 

Similarly, the age limit of Senior Superintendent (SSP) and Superintendent (SP) is 58 years and the age of Deputy Superintendent (DSP) and Inspector (Inspector) is 57 years. The tenure of DIG is 5 years, SSP 8 years and SP 10 years. The pension period of both police jawans and constables has been fixed at 16 years and that of assistant inspectors and deputy inspectors at 18 years. 

At present, there is a provision to get pension only after the service period of all levels of the police has reached 20 years. In the year 2060, the government established a minimum pension period of 20 years for all ranks due to reasons such as the increase in resignations from the army due to the short period of getting pension, and the fact that during the then armed conflict, there was an increase in the number of people resigning in the middle of the army, and the financial burden caused by early retirement. After two decades, the government has again introduced a bill with three separate provisions for jawans/havaldars, asai/sai and inspectors or above by specifying 16, 18 and 20 years according to the previous provisions. Likewise, some arrangements have been changed in the provisions for promotion to Inspector General of Police. 

While promoting the IGP in both police departments, in the absence of an AIG or an AIG, there is currently an arrangement to promote from the DIG from among the qualified candidates based on seniority, efficiency, and performance. The arrangement is included in the bill.  The

bill now includes a provision to evaluate the performance of the Inspector General of Police and Armed Forces. The committee, which has the Chief Secretary of the Government of Nepal as its Chairman and the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs as its members, has made a new arrangement to perform the functions of the Inspector General. Earlier, only the officers up to the AIG level were being evaluated. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sent a draft of the bill to the Council of Ministers to form a recommendation committee headed by the Secretary of the Ministry to appoint the Inspector General of the Police and Armed Forces, but when it was passed, the proposal was withdrawn.

The arrangement of appointment of IGP from AIG and DIG in case of absence of AIG has been kept as is. Although previously there was a provision that the Council of Ministers would appoint the IGP from among the AIG or DIG on the basis of seniority, seniority has been kept as the third basis of evaluation in the new bill. In both organizations, it has been arranged that the policemen who are going to compulsory retirement after reaching the pension period can be promoted one level if they have stayed at the same level for 8 years. 

Nepal Police operates under the law made in 2012. The Armed Police is governed by an Act enacted in 2057. Although many issues including the mobilization of both police forces are covered in the law, the provisions of service and conditions including transfer/promotion are kept in the regulations, so the government has been criticized for arbitrarily amending the regulations. After the dispute reached the court saying that the government had misused the right to exercise by amending the regulations, the Supreme Court had given a mandate a decade ago to include the provisions of the police service and conditions in the law. As the government has backed away from changing the provisions of the service conditions in the regulations, the bill has been made to include it in the law.

The government has fixed 20 percent quota for the state police while promoting from Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG). The government has introduced a bill to amend and unify the laws related to Nepal Police so that 20 percent of the personnel working under the Provincial Police Service will be included in the promotion of DIG from SSP. The law on adjustment has already been passed so that the provincial police chief will be appointed by the Nepal Police.

There are 7 DIGs in 7 states as state police chiefs. The quota has been fixed in such a way that the SSPs in the state will also be eligible for promotion to DIG if the state police who have been adjusted from the union qualify according to the conditions prescribed by the federal law. 

It is mentioned in the bill that when promoted to DIG, the remaining 80 percent of the posts will be filled from among the SSPs under the union. Even if the promotion is done in this way, a new provision has been included in the bill that the officer who will be promoted from the provincial quota must take a separate staff college course. It is mentioned that the staff course will be conducted for the capacity development of police inspectors and above officers. This training will be conducted only in the case of officers who joined the police service after 9th Chait 2070. In the case before that, this provision will not apply.

The government is preparing to submit this bill on the police in the House of Representatives meeting to be held on January 18. In the bill, provision has been made for a separate staff college in the police. For this, 'Police Leadership and Staff Course' has been arranged. A legal arrangement is going to be made for SSP promotion as well, with 80 percent quota for those who have completed the course from the staff college and 20 percent quota for those who have not. At present, staff college is not mandatory for officers on any promotion in the police. 

It is also mentioned in the bill that when promoting SP, 60 percent of officers who have completed staff college and 40 percent of those who have not will be promoted. The Bill mentions that this arrangement will be implemented from the time DSPs who have completed the staff course are promoted to SP.