In 2069, the ordinance brought by the Baburam Bhattarai-led government was stopped by the Supreme Court, Sushil Koirala in 2072, KP Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal in 2073 tried to introduce a similar law but failed.
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At a time when it is being criticized for not being able to make development and public service delivery effective, the government has moved forward to enact a law to provide 'Kust facility' to pre-special officials from the state budget. A law is being drafted to provide life-long benefits to the former president, former vice-president, former prime minister, former chairman of the council of ministers, former speaker and former speaker of the National Assembly, including monthly allowance, house rent/house maintenance expenses, vehicles, staff and assistants in the secretariat.
Home Minister Ramesh Akhtar took a proposal to the Council of Ministers to draft a bill regarding facilities for ex-officers. After the Council of Ministers gave their consent, the Ministry of Home Affairs has drafted a bill to provide lifetime benefits to the former President, former Vice President, former Prime Minister, former Chairman of the Council of Ministers, former Chief Justice, former Speaker and former Speaker of the National Assembly.
Even now the ex-officers have been taking facilities including security, vehicles and fuel by taking a decision from the Council of Ministers. In addition to this, they have also received treatment and subsistence allowances by taking a decision from the Council of Ministers. The government has initiated the law-making process to institutionalize it.
Former Supreme Court judge Balram KC says that making a law to provide lifelong support to ex-officers from state funds would be 'dishonest to the country, the people and the constitution'. "The economic situation of the country is in a bad state, corruption has crossed the border, hundreds of citizens are going abroad for jobs every day, people are dying without getting treatment, the trust of citizens towards the state is almost broken," he said, "The government's attention seems to be focused on exploiting the state and exploiting government funds for the big ones. What could be more unfortunate for the country?" In July 2069, the Cabinet led by Baburam Bhattarai decided to introduce an ordinance to provide life-long facilities including vehicles, housing, fuel and secretariat to the retired President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker and Home Minister. The
ordinance was immediately issued by the then President Ramvaran Yadav. After receiving a writ against it, the Supreme Court stopped the implementation.
When Sushil Koirala was the Prime Minister, an attempt was made to introduce a law related to the facilities of ex-officers in 2072. But there was widespread opposition as they were going to introduce a law to exploit the state's treasury. At that time, a proposal was made to provide facilities for 14 former officials including the former president. For that, the bill was drafted and registered in the legislature.
MPs demanded to include themselves in the bill registered by the then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Vamdev Gautam. On the other hand, there was opposition from the people saying that they were trying to institutionalize the exploitation of the state's property in the name of pre-specified. After controversy and protests, the government withdrew the bill on 10 June 2072.
Even when UML President KP Sharma Oli became the Prime Minister after Koirala, efforts were made to advance the bill by including monthly salary for former office bearers. The Ministry of Home Affairs had also prepared a draft for that. But the Oli government was dissolved in July 2073 without finalizing it. Then the Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal became the Prime Minister. The Home Minister at that time, Bimalendra Nidhi, registered the bill in the parliament in February 2073 to reduce the number of ex-officers in the list of beneficiaries in the previously stalled bill and increase the benefits.
It was proposed to give 50,000 rupees to the former president and 40,000 rupees to the former vice president as a 'monthly allowance'. In Kathmandu, it was mentioned that those who do not have a house in their own name or a family of one house will be given Rs 2 lakh per month as house rent and other officials will be given Rs 75 thousand per month. In the case of a house in Kathmandu Valley, it was proposed to give 1 lakh rupees to the former president and 37 thousand 500 rupees to the rest of the officials under the title of 'house maintenance expenses'.
Similarly, it was proposed to provide one/one vehicle to each of them by spending from the government budget, to provide 25,000 rupees monthly maintenance expenses for those who use their own vehicles, to provide fuel to the former president as a sitting minister and to other ex-officers as a state minister. For the private secretariat, the government offered the former president the facility of having three employees, one deputy secretary level, one driver and one office assistant.
A proposal was proposed in the previous bill that for other ex-officers besides the ex-president, 2 people, one branch officer and one driver, would receive money according to the government salary scale. For this facility, it was proposed that the security personnel from the army, police and armed police and other facilities will be managed from the same office from which the ex-officers have retired and for that, it will be funded from the annual budget. Even though the then government made a lot of efforts, that bill could not pass through the parliament.
Ex-office holders should be stopped for life, not for life, but even those who are being given financial obligations should be stopped
- Balram KC, former judge, Supreme Court
After the general election of 2074, even when UML president Oli became the prime minister, there was a lot of effort to advance the bill. At that time, Ram Bahadur Thapa was the Home Minister. "But the government did not advance the bill due to the fear of public criticism," said a former administrator. After the
bill did not move forward, the Oli-led government brought security standards 2075 for former super-special and special officials. Under the guise of that, the ex-officers were given increased facilities such as driver/follower vehicle, monthly fuel, driver, security personnel, etc. through the Cabinet decision. At present, there is a long queue of ex-specialists in exploiting the state's property. Financial support and other facilities have also been given to ex-officers by decision of Patke. The government has initiated the process to institutionalize this.
If the bill is made and passed by the parliament keeping the list as discussed, the state will have to provide lifelong benefits to former presidents Ramwaran Yadav and Bidyadevi Bhandari, former vice presidents Parmanand Jha and Nanda Bahadur Pun. Right now, the government has arranged accommodation for former president Yadav in Bhainsepati in Lalitpur by paying a rent of around 2 lakh rupees. Although Yadav has a private house in the capital, he does not live there. Former President Bhandari has not taken housing and transportation facilities. But both the former presidents have been taking 270 liters of petrol per month, facilities in the secretariat of the undersecretary with staff against the law.
Former vice-president Parmanand Jha and Nanda Bahadur Pun, former prime minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Sher Bahadur Deuba, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhalnath Khanal, Baburam Bhattarai, ex-Chairman of the Council of Ministers Khilraj Regmi will also be given lifetime benefits. Ex-Speaker, Ex-Chairman of the National Assembly, Ex-Chief Justice will be more than a dozen who will get lifetime benefits.
An official of the Ministry of Home Affairs also said that they are preparing to finalize the new draft by including the arrangements in the previous bill. According to him, discussions have started on the list of ex-officers in the bill to include "President, Vice President, Prime Minister/Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Chief Justice, Speaker of the House of Representatives/Legislature-Parliament, retired person as President of the National Assembly or Constituent Assembly".
Former judge Casey said that the law-making process that provides facilities to former officials should be stopped. The ex-officers are still exploiting the state's wealth. They are taking fuel, vehicle, house rent, security personnel, medical expenses, other financial assistance from the government. All the facilities that have financial obligations should be stopped, it will be enough if the state manages only the security personnel," he said.
A secretary of the government of Nepal commented that it was shameful for the former officials to show attachment to take benefits from the state. "It is not unusual to arrange security personnel and vehicle escorts, after working at a specific level of the state, they should be arranged in the necessary amount based on the security challenges," he said, "but once they are in a position, it is exploitative of the state to provide facilities such as vehicles, secretariat with employees in government facilities, monthly salary, fuel, house rent/house maintenance expenses."
