The Parliamentary Inquiry Special Committee has held State Arrangements Committee Chairman Ramhari Khatiwada and Secretary Suraj Kumar Dura as the main responsible for the disturbance related to the 'cooling off period' in the Federal Civil Service Bill. The committee has given immunity to the officials who played an active role in making the provision of 'cooling off period' contained in the bill inactive.

The special committee prepared a report at 4 am on Tuesday after debating for 21 hours on whether to recommend action along with the person involved in the mess of the bill. The Chairman of the Inquiry Committee, Jeevan Pariyar, presented his reply in the House of Representatives meeting on Tuesday. Although the investigation committee pointed out moral responsibility to two people, it did not recommend any action. 

The investigation committee did not even make Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal, Law Secretary of Prime Minister's Office Phaninder Gautam, then Law Secretary Udayraj Sapkota, Secretary of General Administration Ministry Ravilal Panth aware of their responsibility. The General Secretary of the Parliament, Padma Prasad Pandey, who is against the 'cooling of period', has also not been made responsible. There was political pressure on the investigation committee to make them not responsible. 

Chief Secretary Aryal, General Secretary Pandey and other high-ranking employees protested since the discussion on 'Cooling of Period' started in the State Administration Committee. They repeatedly ran to the power center not to put a 'cooling off period' in the bill. They disobeyed even when the inquiry committee called for verification of the matters written in the inquiry. They questioned the justification and scope of the inquiry committee itself. There was an argument between the members of the ruling and opposition parties in the inquiry committee whether to hold them responsible or not. 

In the case of the chief secretaries and secretaries, the inquiry committee has only said that "it is not considered appropriate to publicly oppose the cooling off period". Senior officials of the Federal Parliament Secretariat have expressed concern that writing such a report under political pressure has raised questions about the dignity of the Parliament itself.

The moral responsibility is not only mine, but also that of the members of the committee and all the parliamentarians: Ramhari Khatiwada, Chairman, State Affairs Committee The sub-committee headed by Dilendra Badu under the State Management Committee had arranged a one-year 'cooling off period' by adding sub-section 4 after section 82 of the bill. Later, the committee amended and kept a two-year 'cooling off period'. The investigation committee held the committee chairman Khatiwada and secretary Dura as the main responsibility for the fact that the final report prepared after the amendment was not made available to the members of the committee and was taken directly to the House of Representatives without even discussing it in the committee. 

'When the report was submitted to the assembly with the signature of the chairman, the chairman, who is the main responsibility of the committee, did not play a responsible role in relation to the serious errors seen in the draft as a legal signatory,' the report said. Regarding Secretary Dura, the inquiry committee has said, "The Secretary of the State Order and Good Governance Committee, Suraj Kumar Dura, as a secretary, has been present in the meetings of the sub-committee and the committee from the beginning and has also played a role in writing reports. It cannot be said that he has fulfilled the defined responsibilities." It is mentioned in the report. The

committee has only reminded the Chairman Khatiwada and Secretary Dura of their moral responsibility. Individualized guilty pleas and actions are not recommended. The chairman of the inquiry committee, Pariyar, said that during the inquiry, it was not possible to find out the reason for tampering with the bill and who played the role.

All members from the chairman of the committee protested loudly. That's why we had doubts whether this happened while following the orders of the Chief Secretary, General and Law Ministries. But it did not appear that way during the investigation,' he said, 'If they had reached the last place and this happened, they could have had a strong basis to say that it was their fault. The report only says that this matter is your deep responsibility. It should have been paid attention to. But the chairman's intention to deactivate the 'cooling off period' was not met. Khatiwada, chairman of the

committee, said that since political and moral issues were mentioned to political figures without mentioning their names, not only he, but all members of the committee and the House of Representatives are responsible.

The report did not ask me to personally name and resign. Political persons include all MPs. Since this issue was raised, it is a matter of ethics not to go to the committee, not to take the vehicle facility,' he said, 'after this issue was raised, in the last meeting on 18 June, when we asked Subas Bhattarai, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Law, and Meera Acharya, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of General Administration, they replied that the subject of sub-section (5) after Article 82 (4) is for a different purpose. The record of this is also in the committee. After the decision of the

committee, it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Law and General Affairs to coordinate the provisions of the law and sub-sections.

On 2nd May, the State Law Committee unanimously decided to include a provision in section 82 (4) of the bill that states that 'an employee who has resigned or retired from civil service or other government service shall not be appointed to any constitutional or government position before the completion of two years from the date of retirement'.

The report was passed by the House of Representatives on June 15. The said provision prevents civil service and other employees who have resigned or gone on mandatory retirement from taking constitutional, government and diplomatic appointments for 2 years. 

After putting this provision in the bill, it was necessary to remove the provision that 'no appointment can be taken to a post other than constitutional or diplomatic appointment and any other appointment made by the Government of Nepal'. But after it was retained in Section 82 (5A), questions arose everywhere. The House of Representatives constituted a committee headed by Congress MP Jeevan Pariyar on 23 June to investigate the provision in the Bill contrary to the decision of the State Order Committee, with Sushila Thing, Narayan Prasad Acharya, Ishwari Gharti, Madhav Sapkota, Ganesh Parajuli and Roshan Karki as members.

The inquiry committee has mentioned in the report that special corrections are necessary to revise and mature the draft, that there is no consistency in writing the decision after the discussion in the committee, as there are different practices from committee to committee of the assembly, and that there is a practice of giving the draft to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs to prepare the draft after the decision of the discussion. It has also been pointed out that there is a tendency to shirk responsibility in case of errors, as well as the fact that there is no practice of signing the draft bill immediately after taking into account the seriousness of the matter while making a decision. The