A special committee is investigating the issue of who, why and how the provisions of the 'cooling off period' made by the State Order and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives unanimously made ineffective in the Federal Civil Service Bill. The interrogation of the people involved in the process of drafting the bill and connected with it has reached its final stage.

The seven-member committee chaired by Jeevan Pariyar was to identify the culprits involved in the fraud and recommend action within July 11. However, since the writing of the report could not be completed within the stipulated time, Speaker Pariyar informed that a letter has been sent to Speaker Devraj Ghimire to request some more time. He said that the 27th meeting of the committee was held on Thursday and various people were questioned and discussions with some people are still pending. 

The discussion of report writing started on Thursday. There is a meeting of the House of Representatives on Friday, then it is said that the meeting will be held on July 19," Pariyar said. We have asked for time to submit the report in the House of Representatives meeting on July 19. Special committee members include Sushil Thing from Congress, Narayan Prasad Acharya and Ishwari Gharti from UML, Madhav Sapkota from Maoist, Ganesh Parajuli from RSVP and Roshan Karki from RPP.

According to the parliamentary committee sources, some say that the provision of 'cooling off period', which has been kept as it is, is a 'human error'. Arkothari demanded that strict action should be taken against the culprits as they were deliberately cheated. Education Minister Raghuji Pant, Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal and Parliament General Secretary Padma Prasad Pandey, who are members of the State Order Committee, and other high-ranking employees, who were called to the special committee, said that they should conclude that there was a 'human error'. 

Rajya Sabha Chairman Ramhari Khatiwada and Member MPs, the then General Administration Minister Rajkumar Gupta have demanded action by finding the guilty and recommending action by saying that 'this is not a common error, the staff has conspired and the 'cooling off period' has been neutralized by keeping bad faith. UML MP Padam Giri, a member of the state system committee, said that committee chairperson Khatiwada and secretary Dura should be made responsible. 

committee members Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Poorna Bahadur Khadka, Gagan Thapa and others have not gone to the special committee. The committee sent them a letter asking them to attend. Special Committee Chairman Pariyar said that efforts to discuss with the top leaders are continuing. 

The State Order Committee unanimously held the provision in Section 82 (4) of the Civil Service Bill, "A civil servant or employee who has resigned or retired from the service shall not be appointed to any constitutional or government position before the completion of a period of two years from the date of retirement." Section 82 (5A) was retained in the report rendering the said provision ineffective. In which it was said that the Chief Secretary, Secretary and Joint Secretary cannot be appointed to any position other than "constitutional or diplomatic appointment and any other appointment made by the Government of Nepal". Whereas Section 82 (5A) had to be removed to implement the provision of 'cooling off period'.

The bill was passed by the State Arrangements Committee on 2nd of June with the provision of 'cooling off period'. After that, Parliamentary Committee Chairman Khatiwada, Secretary Dura, Law Ministry Joint Secretary Subhash Kumar Bhattarai and other officials started writing the report. In the meantime, the government secretaries led by Chief Secretary Eknarayan Aryal, with the participation of Committee Secretary Durasamet, came to put pressure on Speaker Devraj Ghimire and National Assembly Speaker Narayan Prasad Dahal to remove the 'cooling off period' from the Civil Bill. Padma Prasad Pandey, Secretary General of the Parliament Secretariat, was the one who arranged for it.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba were pressured to remove the 'cooling off period' and warned of collective resignation if not. During the questioning by the special committee, General Secretary Pandey replied that Chief Secretary Aryal called on 8th May to arrange a meeting with the Speaker and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

"After the chief secretary of the executive called and told him to manage it, he went along," Pandey said in the special committee. General Secretary Pandey along with Parliament Secretaries Sudarshan Khadka and Roznath Pandey also participated with the Chief Secretary's team. A special committee source said that Pandey gave a round answer to the question of the parliamentarians as to why keeping the 'cooling off period' is unconstitutional. 

After meeting the speaker and the president, the chief secretary gave Pandey the task of telling the media about the discussion. "The fact that it was not done according to the constitution, keeping a 'cooling off period' is not a constitutional matter," Pandey told the media at that time. In response to the questions raised by the MPs, Pandey said that by keeping a 'cooling off period', the law will be challenged in the court and it will be inactivated by the court. 

Chief Secretary Aryal had the same answer as him. Chief Secretary Aryal replied in the style of a warning not to have a 'cooling off period' in the special committee, according to MPs and those present there. Their argument was that while the employee is required to work according to the Civil Code while in office, it does not apply after retirement. However, they did not make any argument regarding the fact that the retired employees will get pension benefits as per the provisions of the Civil Code.

In the inquiry of the special committee, committee secretary Dura was questioned as to why he got involved in the campaign to remove the 'cooling of period'. The Secretary General is my boss, I went after he told me to come to the Chief Secretary's delegation. Everyone had put their points before the Speaker and the National Assembly. I was asked to remove that arrangement. I replied that it cannot be removed under any circumstances," Dura told the committee. He said that he did not receive the instructions of Chairman Khatiwada to call a meeting to discuss the final report. "If the chairman had given instructions to call the meeting, he would have called it," he told the committee. 

Khatiwada, the Chairman of the State Arrangements Committee, came to the working room and said that the next meeting could not be convened after 2nd of June after the employees pressed to keep the provisions according to their demands and interests. Khatiwada has been saying that on May 4, the leaders of various employee unions attacked him in the working room and even the logo of the parliamentarian disappeared. General Secretary Pandey said that Chairman Khatiwada and Committee Secretary Dura are responsible for signing the report of the bill, and that others should not be blamed. 

The then minister Gupta told the committee that he was misled about the bill. This is not a common mistake. The staff cheated me too. The system of 'cooling off period' was made ineffective by keeping Badniat. On behalf of the Ministry, all the responsibilities were given to Joint Secretary Meera Acharya, it was not explained to me step by step. Information about sub-sections 4 and 5 of section 82 was not given," he said in the committee.