There is a growing tendency to seek constitutional and political appointments at the end of working life, drawing 'line' with political power. Former Chief Secretary Lokdarshan Regmi is one such lucky administrator who got two lucrative appointments after his resignation.

Regmi, who started his civil service career as a branch officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, gave up the powerful post of Chief Secretary for the appointment of ambassador. Two years before his retirement from the Chief Secretary, he became the British Ambassador for the first time on 5th January 1977. Since November 25, 2008, he is the acting ambassador of the United States. Both these appointments of Regmi took place during the government led by Prime Minister KP Oli.

Another former chief secretary who left the highest post of chief secretary in the civil sector, which is considered a permanent government, is Somlal Subedi. He did not even show the ethics of resigning while taking the appointment. Subedi was appointed as the Alternate Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), creating an additional post for himself while still Chief Secretary. At that time, he was widely criticized for taking the job of ADB without resigning because of the desire to increase his pension.

Subedi, who became the chief secretary in July 072, had a three-year tenure till July 20, 075. However, he had already reached the headquarters of ADB in the Philippines, keeping his post of chief secretary in reserve (additional) since 07/01/07.

Shankardas Bairagi, who had the privilege of becoming the Chief Secretary, did not complete his tenure as Lokdarshan Regmi resigned after two years. Three months before his retirement, he went to work as an adviser to the National Security Council to get service privileges similar to that of the minister. Bairagi, who was in office till October 2080, resigned on May 32.

Election Office Chief Commissioner Dinesh Thapalia was the Secretary of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration before his appointment. He got this appointment a few days before going on retirement. These are only representative examples of exchanging Chief Secretary and Secretary positions for lucrative appointments. It seems that the main goal of most of those who have been chief secretaries and secretaries in recent times is to seek constitutional and political appointment at the end of their working life by aligning with the political power.

The Administrative Reform Suggestion Committee formed under the leadership of former administrator Kashiraj Dahal suggested to the government that there should be a cooling period of more than two years ten years ago. Only eleven years after the recommendation of the committee, the debate on this issue has started in the parliament. If the top leadership does not fall under the influence of some secretaries, it has been confirmed that there will be a cooling period of at least two years this year.

The cooling period was not proposed in the draft of the bill on the formation, operation and conditions of service of the federal civil service, which was registered in the parliament on 21st of February 2018 by the government. In the current debate on the bill pending in the State Order and Good Governance Committee, after all the parliamentarians demanded that there should be a 'cooling period' when giving constitutional and political appointments to employees who have worked in the public service, this provision was sought to be added to the bill. Chairman of the

committee, Ramhari Khatiwada, said that the sub-committee formed under the coordination of MP Dilendra Badu under the State Order and Good Governance Committee has agreed in principle that there will be a 'cooling period' of at least two years. An eleven-member sub-committee with representation from all parties was formed on February 9 to reach an agreement on other 13 issues that were not included in the bill. Khatiwada said that the continuous discussion in the sub-committee resulted in a rough agreement on everything except the question of whether or not to keep the party trade union system and now only the work of writing the draft is left.

MPs say that after the provision of 'cooling period' will be kept in the law, the lobbying of some secretaries has been intense against it. They are even lobbying the top leadership not to have such a system. Another MP of the sub-committee said that the secretaries are lobbying because of the lack of expert manpower in the constitutional commission and agencies when the cooling period is arranged for a long time.

President Khatiwada said that some secretaries have expressed their dissatisfaction with the demand that 50% of the civil servants should be experts in the Public Service Commission. He said, "No matter who pressures me, the report without a 'cooling period' of at least two years will not go through my signature, even the leaders are positive about it." According to him, the Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission and the Election Commission have become like a club of former administrators. He argues that the trend of making alliances with political power since the appointment was still in office and not taking cases against the appointees and not being able to take decisions after reaching the constitutional commissions has led to the unhappiness.

Ex-administrator Bhojraj Pokharel, who is also the former Chief Commissioner of the Election Commission, says that the proposal to have a 'cooling period' is positive to eliminate the tendency of appointments to be made the day after resignation. It is also necessary to put this provision in the law to control the tendency of many desires towards the position. He said that if the appointment is made by pleasing the political leadership immediately, there will be more inclination towards the appointee. He said, "If a two-year 'cooling period' is kept, a lot of water will have flowed into the river."

Pokharel said that this arrangement would be helpful in controlling the situation. He said, 'Thinking from the other side, it is also possible that we got more opportunities to cheat. But as soon as he is removed from the post, the quota is cut off for the fact that he was appointed. The power and dignity of the appointee also decreases.

The main attraction of the appointment of chief secretaries and secretaries is the ambassador, constitutional commissions, abuse of authority investigation commission and the election commission. Similarly, former secretaries are also vying for appointments in other commissions, advisers to the prime minister, Rashtra Bank, Nepal Electricity Authority, Insurance Committee, Nepal Telecommunication, Securities Board etc.

Senior advocate Bhattarai said that political leaders also want to bring their Esman to powerful bodies. He said that for his own protection and the party's protection, the political leadership in the authority and the Election Commission will look for his S-man, saying, 'This has damaged the credibility of the constitutional commissions.' A cooling period of more than a year is required. According to Dahal, the main purpose behind this is to break the contact and relationship with the political power. He said that this system should also be in order to break the disorganization with the political power and to prevent the transfer of self-interests in the ministry.

"Looking at tomorrow's appointment, there is a tendency for employees to try to be close to political power, and to make political leaders make decisions that are favorable to them," says Dahal, "Until this trend ends, there will be no increase in professionalism in public administration." There should be a cooling period of at least two years for professional competence, capacity, and financial discipline.' The existing secretaries and recently retired secretaries have started to argue that they will not be able to get an appointment in the constitutional body if they retire in sixty years and have a cooling period of two years. The age limit for appointment to the Constitutional Commission remains 65 years. If there is a system of retirement in 60 years, adding a cooling period of two years, the age of an ordinary ex-secretary will reach at least 63 years.