The weekly discussion on the Federal Civil Service Bill in the Legislation Management Committee under the National Assembly, the Upper House of the Federal Parliament, has gained momentum. The civil bill is in doubt as to what will happen to the 'cooling off period' with only 6 days remaining, including Thursday, to be passed by the National Assembly through the committee and sent back to the House of Representatives.

 In the bill, there is also a fear of what will happen in the 'cooling off period', where civil servants placed in the House of Representatives amid fraud will not be able to take appointments in non-governmental organizations for two years after compulsory retirement or resignation, which conflicts with constitutional, diplomatic and governmental interests. 

Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal, who is the highest post of civil service, and secretaries of the government are actively working to remove the 'cooling off period' from this bill, which has been fully debated since Wednesday, along with the parliamentarians who have registered amendments to the bill. Aryal has openly declared and warned that until the Bill is certified by the President and published in the Gazette and takes the form of an Act, the 'cooling off period' will be removed.

General Secretary of Parliament Padma Prasad Pandey and secretaries also supported and participated in the campaign to remove the provision of 'cooling off period' of Chief Secretary Aryal and secretaries. The UML, which is leading the government amid warnings and pressure from high-ranking employees along with Aryal, filed a party-wise amendment proposal that the 'cooling of period' should be removed.

In Article 111 (5) of the Constitution, there is a provision that the bill originating in the House of Representatives and reaching the National Assembly must be passed within 2 months. "Except for the meaning bill passed by the House of Representatives and sent to the National Assembly, the National Assembly must pass it or send it back with suggestions within two months of receiving it," the constitution says, "If the National Assembly does not return the bill within such a period, the House of Representatives can submit the bill to the President for verification by the decision of the majority of the members immediately existing." It has taken . The meeting of the committee held at 11:30 am on Wednesday continued the weekly discussion until 5:30 pm. Since there is a quarterly discussion with the amendment MP, from Thursday, there will only be a quarterly discussion. A committee meeting has been called on Thursday at 11:30.

Parliamentarians of the ruling and opposition parties in the committee have claimed that the committee will prepare a report so that the bill is passed by the National Assembly within the time frame set by the constitution. They doubted what will happen in the 'cooling off period' with the pressure of time .

Committee member Krishna Bahadur Rokaye, who is also the chief whip of the Congress in the National Assembly, said that the bill brought for the implementation of the Constitution is being passed by the Assembly on the 16th of Bhadra and sent to the House of Representatives.

'The Civil Bill has become complicated after being passed by the House of Representatives. Along with the 'cooling off period' dispute, we have a time limit challenge," said Rokaye, "the work consultation sub-committee of the legislative management committee has reached an agreement to resolve within the time limit . If it is not resolved, we will pass it because the dignity of the National Assembly will be reduced. Gopal Bhattarai, chief whip and committee member of the UML, which is leading the

government, said that even if the meeting is held all day, the Civil Bill will be finalized. "Now we will pass the bill even if we sit all day," he said. UML has put a collective amendment under the leadership of Bhattarai to not have a 'cooling off period'. In response to the question whether it will affect the bill or not, Bhattarai said, "We will finalize the cooling off period and pass it, the leaders have not said anything." We are free to take a decision.

Ganga Belwase, a whip and committee member of the largest party in the National Assembly, Maoists, said that the bill should be passed within the time limit set by the constitution. He said that even after voting on the controversial issue, the report of the bill should be passed and sent to the House of Representatives.

"It will not be difficult even in the 'cooling off period' unanimously approved by the House of Representatives on the Civil Bill . Congress has amended to keep it for two years, but we have said three years . If the Congress accepts our proposal, we will keep a three-year 'cooling off period','' she said. He said that a decision should be taken even if it is by dividing the opinion on the controversial issues. The decision to keep the "cooling off period" has been made by the House of Representatives. We are going to remove the provision that refutes that provision. As much as possible, there should be a unanimous decision, it is not good for the government side to have a different opinion,' she said.

UML's chief whip Bhattarai said that although it is natural for Congress and Maoists to doubt that the UML will fail the bill by taking a stand in the 'cooling off period', the dispute will be resolved through consensus. During the "cooling off period" we were doubted. We have our opinion . We keep that idea . Then we will go according to the agreement," he said.

Congress Chief Whip Rokaye expressed the hope that UML will not obstruct the issue which was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives and the State Affairs Committee and requested to be corrected by the Error Investigation Committee. "Cooling off period" has been unanimously passed by the House of Representatives along with the Constitution Committee. In the House of Representatives, the provision of 'cooling off period' has come with the consent of the UML," said Rokaye, "the Speaker has also requested that the National Assembly correct it. However, UML has said that there should be no 'cooling off period' while amending the bill in the National Assembly. We will reach an agreement on that point after a thorough discussion.

If the UML does not come to an agreement regarding the 'cooling off period', Maoist whip Belwase said that the bill should be passed by the National Assembly with a majority of the opposition parties including the Congress and the Maoists.

During the passage of the Civil Bill by the State Order Committee under the House of Representatives, the system of 'cooling off period' was tampered with. The committee unanimously passed the report in section 82 (4) with the provision that "Civil servants or employees who have resigned or retired from the service will not be appointed to any constitutional or government post before the completion of two years from the date of retirement".

After the provision of 'cooling off period' was put in place by the committee, the provision that was already placed in the bill that 'not to be appointed to a position other than constitutional or diplomatic appointment and any other appointment made by the Government of Nepal' had to be removed. But after it was retained in section 82 (5A), questions were raised everywhere after the provisions passed by the committee were broken.

A special committee was formed to investigate the case. The said committee also suggested that the provisions of the cooling off period should be removed from the National Assembly.