Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is taking the lead in removing the provision of 'cooling-off period' from the Federal Civil Bill unanimously passed by the State Order and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives. He is constantly discussing with the leaders of the ruling party to amend the provisions of the bill, which prohibits employees from taking public positions for two years after retirement from service.

Leaders of the ruling party have said that Prime Minister Oli is trying to remove the provision of 'cooling-off period' from the bill, unable to withstand the pressure of the chief secretary and secretaries.

The employees were lobbying against the issue of "cooling-off period" law since it was raised in the parliamentary committee. Even after the parliamentary committee arranged a 'cooling-off period' and sent the bill to the House, Chief Secretary Eknarayan Aryal, Secretary General of the Federal Parliament Secretariat Padma Prasad Pandey, Secretary of the Ministry of Labor Krishnahari Pushkar, Home Secretary Gokarnamani Duwadi and others are putting pressure.

Prime Minister Oli has discussed the arrangements related to the 'cooling-off period' with Congress Chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba, Deputy Chairman Purna Bahadur Khadka, General Minister Gagan Thapa, Congress leader Ramesh Ulakkar, who is also the Home Minister, and Congress leader Ramhari Khatiwada, Chairman of the State Arrangements Committee, among others. Although UML leaders are in favor of a 'cooling-off period', they have not expressed their views publicly. UML top leaders, who are also MPs, say that whatever the President and Prime Minister Oli says, they have to accept it.

An official of Baluwatar informed that Prime Minister Oli told Speaker Devraj Ghimire not to push the Civil Bill immediately due to ongoing discussions to convince the power partner Congress. On May 1, Chairman of the State Arrangements Committee Khatiwada presented the committee's report on the bill. When the report of the bill was presented, the MPs of the RSVP raised slogans with a circle of 'Well'. While presenting the report, Khatiwada mentioned that there is an important provision of the 'cooling-off period' bill, which does not allow people to be appointed to public positions for two years if they retire from service or resign. 

In Tuesday's meeting of the House of Representatives, General Administration Minister Rajkumar Gupta decided to discuss the Federal Civil Service Bill with the report of the committee. The daily agenda was for Minister Gupta to present a proposal for the passage of the bill after the parliamentarians discussed the bill on party lines.

Minister Gupta, who is responsible for introducing the bill, was not present at the beginning of the meeting. According to Parliament officials and MPs, Minister Gupta was absent after learning of the government's intention not to advance the Civil Bill.

Speaker Ghimire did not allow the House to enter the agenda on Tuesday, using the 'well' gherao of RSVP as an excuse. While on Monday morning, he called RSVP Acting Chairman DP Aryal and Chief Whip Santosh Periyar to their residence in Baluwatar and said that the Parliament will proceed with its agenda. He asked the RSVP leaders to end the ongoing protests in the House as the bill has to be passed. 

Speaker Ghimire made the possible agenda of the House of Representatives up to June 15 to be made public on Wednesday, which does not mention the issue of passing the Federal Civil Bill with discussion. Ekram Giri, the spokesperson of the Parliament Secretariat, said that now the budget-related bill is a priority.

This is the budget session. Appropriation Bills and Finance Bills related to the budget (Finance Bills and National Debt Raising Bills) naturally get priority. The civil bill was on Tuesday's agenda but it was adjourned because the meeting could not be held," he said. "We will have to work on the appropriation-related bill from Thursday."

The issue of running the parliament only by opening the RSVP was not raised in the meeting of the executive committee, nor did the speaker consult with the Congress leaders, we were surprised when the speaker adjourned the parliament at once without our chief whip speaking,' said a Congress official, 'later on, we realized that the Civil Bill was the main reason.'

Deuba held a discussion with some top leaders of the party at his residence Budanilkanth on Tuesday evening. Deputy Chairman Khadka, Chief Minister Thapa, Home Minister Ukkar and others participated in the discussion. On Wednesday, Deuba reached Singhdarbar and discussed with Prime Minister Oli.

According to another leader of the Congress, most of the leaders of the party are in the position of not withdrawing from the 'cooling-off period', but the party chairman Deuba is seen to be in favor of making a decision only after understanding the state of mind of Prime Minister Oli. "It is not good to create an atmosphere where not only the civil bill, but also other bills are sent by the parliamentary committee after a long discussion and are not passed in the House of Representatives," said the leader.

Prime Minister Oli called the Chairman of the State Arrangements Committee Khatiwada to Baluwatar for a discussion on Wednesday evening. Khatiwada said that there was a discussion with the Prime Minister about the bill pending in the committee. A discussion was also held regarding the Civil Bill. He said that the cooling-off period should be understood and taken forward. I gave examples of different countries, informed that I consulted experts. Khatiwada said that he believes that the House of Representatives will not make any amendments to the Civil Bill as it was unanimously passed by the

committee. He said that the National Assembly can do it if there is a better system. 

Congress MP Hridayram Thani mentioned that there was a consensus among the top leaders when the bill was passed by the committee and said that it is surprising that the government is trying to amend it now. The bill was passed by the government through three ministers. If this bill is not passed, it will be unfortunate for the country," he said. "It is wrong to try to stop it like the Bill on Powers. But why is the government trying to stop it? According to a UML leader, Oli was in favor of keeping a 'cooling-off period' for one year. Accordingly, UML leaders have also been giving opinions. "Now, when the chief secretary and secretaries started saying that the system of cooling-off period should be removed, the prime minister has also made the same attitude," he said, "The trend of becoming a chief secretary, a secretary, putting all the data in a laptop and making appointments the next day must be stopped." Even after the report was passed by the

committee, the chief secretary, general secretary of the parliament, secretaries met Prime Minister Oli, Congress chairman Deuba, Speaker Ghimire and National Assembly Speaker Narayan Prasad Dahal and put pressure on them.

The General Secretary of the Parliament Pandey, who is in charge of advancing the bill in the parliamentary process, gave a public expression calling the provision related to 'cooling-off period' unconstitutional. Then Khatiwada, the Chairman of the State Arrangements Committee, protested. A Congress leader says that it is not possible for the chief secretary and secretaries to meet the officials of the parliament and the chairman of the ruling party to reverse the provisions of the bill passed by the committee without the indication of Prime Minister Oli. 

Chief Secretary and Secretaries colluding with the Prime Minister, Ministers and Heads of Political Parties before retiring from their jobs, there is a wrong tradition of ensuring constitutional, diplomatic and political appointments.

In section 82 of the bill passed by the committee, "Civil servants or employees who have resigned or retired from other government services will not be appointed to any constitutional or government position until the completion of two years from the date of retirement." After 'lobbying' by the chief secretary and secretaries saying that 'cooling-off period' should not be kept only for civil servants, the way has been opened to apply to resignation or compulsory retirement from all government services.

There is a trend among civil servants to increase their pension and take another appointment by resigning some time before the mandatory retirement from the post of chief secretary, secretary and joint secretary. High-ranking employees have been criticized for colluding with the political leadership to appoint constitutional commission officials, ambassadors and other political positions while still in office. After being appointed as a constitutional commission or a diplomatic officer, there are accusations that the work is not effective and that they are only occupying positions.