The slow discussion in the National Assembly and the controversy in various sections increased the confusion
What you should know
The increasing controversy and slow discussion on the provisions of the Civil Bill with the new provision regarding 'cooling off period', which has to be passed by the National Assembly only till August 17, has increased the uncertainty. This bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives on June 15, reached the National Assembly on August 16. There is a legal provision that the National Assembly must pass it with discussion within 60 days and send it to the House of Representatives. Therefore, even though this bill is in a mandatory position to be passed by the National Assembly within a week, the increasing 'controversy and confusion' has increased the confusion about whether it will be passed or not.
Discussions on this bill, which was tabled on June 18, have been ongoing in the legislative committee of the National Assembly since last Wednesday. Although there are 147 sections in the bill, the discussion in the legislative committee has not progressed beyond section 10. The opinions of the parliamentarians are now conflicting on the provisions regarding the filling of posts in the civil service in Section 10. In which the main dispute is seen on whether to keep or close the way to fill the posts of Joint Secretary and Naib Subba through open competition . The House of Representatives has blocked the way of open competition in both these posts. Most MPs in the National Assembly are in favor of not stopping open competition.
Informal discussions with the Congress leadership continued by Prime Minister Oli to avoid 'cooling off period', 5 MPs including UML's chief whip proposed an amendment to remove this provision, due to its effect, the discussion on the bill has slowed Even though there are disputes on other issues on the surface, internally there is still a debate on whether to keep the 'cooling off period' or not. In particular, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is in informal dialogue with Congress leaders to remove the 'cooling off period' from the National Assembly. A member of the Congress said that its effect was discussed in the legislative committee.
And the report that declared Secretary Suraj Kumar Dura as the main moral responsibility has been implemented.
However, on the one hand, Prime Minister Oli will continue discussions with the Congress leadership to remove the provision related to 'cooling off period' and on the other hand, UML's chief whip Gopal Bhattarai, five MPs in the National Assembly have proposed to remove the 'cooling off period', and it seems that UML does not want to keep this provision .
According to Article 111 (5) of the Constitution, the bill passed by the House of Representatives must be passed by the National Assembly within two months or sent back with suggestions. For this, the deadline of the National Assembly is ending on 16 August. If the National Assembly does not withdraw the bill within this period, the House of Representatives must immediately pass the bill by a majority of the existing members and send it to the President for verification.
The Chief Whip of Congress and UML in the National Assembly claims that it is impossible to pass the Bill within 16 August after discussing it at the current pace, so the work will be done on a 'fast track'. According to them, discussions are also going on about forming a small working group to finish the work soon so as to discuss only the amendments in the bill. According to Krishna Bahadur Rokaya, chief whip of the Congress in the National Assembly, the discussion will focus only on the main issues by calling the amenders instead of holding a session-by-session discussion.
UML chief whip Bhattarai claims that the bill will be passed by the National Assembly and will reach the House of Representatives anyway. He said that there will be no situation where the National Assembly cannot pass the bill. "There has been a delay because the section 10 has to be discussed now. After reaching an agreement on it, it is not seen that there will be many more disputes," he says. He says that after entering into the 'cooling off period', whatever is agreed upon, he will proceed accordingly. According to him, this issue is still under discussion. "There are two methods to finish it quickly, the amendment is called and discussed and it is being discussed and then there is talk of discussing only the main amendment," says Rokay. has been stopped, most of the MPs in the National Assembly are in favor of not stopping the open competition
On 2nd of May, the State Law Committee unanimously decided to put a provision in section 82 (4) of the bill that 'employees who have resigned or retired from civil service or other government service will not be appointed to any constitutional or government post before the completion of two years from the date of retirement.' The report was passed by the meeting of the House of Representatives on June 15. The said provision was put in place to prevent employees who resigned from civil service and other government services or went on compulsory retirement from getting constitutional, government, diplomatic appointments for 2 years . However, in order to negate the said section, the dispute has increased after the provision that 'no appointment can be taken to posts other than constitutional or diplomatic appointments and any other appointments made by the Government of Nepal' has been made.
Congress MP Dilendra Badu says that five MPs including UML chief whip Bhattarai should withdraw the amendment proposal. He said that the amendment has not been withdrawn so far and there are still doubts. The Congress MP has made an amendment to maintain the 'cooling off period'. "UML should withdraw its amendment or accept our amendment in the cooling period, there is no other option but these two," says Rokai, chief whip of the Congress in the National Assembly. As it is happening, it will not take long. "We will proceed according to what is agreed between the ruling parties in the discussion. It is natural to have doubts, but we will proceed according to the agreement," he says.
