The provision regarding sub-sections 4 and 5 included under section 82 of the 'Federal Civil Service Bill, 2080' passed by the House of Representatives has now become a matter of serious controversy.

Theoretically, this provision was included to prevent political interference in the civil service. But when the bill is finalized and passed by the House of Representatives, the apparent contradiction between these two subsections is just carelessness or a planned error? Now the angle of the debate and the discussion is thought towards that. In sub-section 4, a new provision has been added to allow a person who retires or resigns from civil service and goes for political appointment to return to service only after a certain period. But in the following sub-section 5 (previous sub-section 4), the theoretical concept of 'cooling off period' is kept as it is. There is a clear contradiction between these two clauses in terms of language, intent and implementation. This has made the spirit of the passed bill and law unclear. While the Bill is pending in the National Assembly, there is still an opportunity to correct the error. Now, through the National Assembly, the contradictions and ambiguities in sub-sections 4 and 5 of section 82 of the bill should be removed. Therefore, maintaining the clarity, purpose and effectiveness of the law through the universal process of law making will be the best solution at present. 

– Techendra Adhikari , Biratnagar