KATHMANDU, Sept 18: The government has transferred several joint secretaries who had been kept without responsibilities at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) for months to another ministry’s reserve pool, effectively transferring them from one veranda to another veranda role.
The additional group refers to a situation in which civil servants are kept without specific responsibilities. Such transfers are commonly referred to as “veranda transfers” in Nepal’s civil service. Employees placed in the additional group are not assigned offices or specific duties. Since they simply report to the office, mark their attendance and remain without work, the practice has come to be known as a “veranda transfer.”
Joint Secretary Bhupendra Thapa of the MoHA had been without responsibilities for four months. The government transferred him on Wednesday to the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoLMCFAGA), but placed him in its additional group.
Similarly, Joint Secretary Pushpa Shahi had been without responsibilities at the MoHA for three months. The government also transferred Shahi to the additional group at the MoLMCFAGA.
“Employees should not be kept without responsibilities for a long period, and transferring them from the veranda of one ministry to the veranda of another is not a good practice either,” said a senior official at the MoLMCFAGA. “Keeping employees without responsibilities for a long time lowers their morale. This ultimately affects the services received by the public.”
Govt completes adjustment of 56 secretaries, 662 joint secretar...
Eight joint secretaries had already been kept without responsibilities at the MoLMCFAGA. Two more joint secretaries have now been transferred to the additional group at the same ministry.
Chiranjibi Poudel, Govinda Adhikari, Tulsinath Gautam, Jay Kumar Ghimire, Sushil Dhakal, Yubaraj Pandey, Rudra Lamichhane and Bed Prasad Kharel have been kept without responsibilities.
The law itself prohibits keeping civil servants without responsibilities for an extended period. Under the Civil Service Act and Civil Service Regulations, employees cannot be kept without responsibilities for more than 15 days.
Employees without assigned responsibilities are referred to as being in the additional group at the MoLMCFAGA. Although other ministries do not formally use the term “additional group,” employees considered undesirable are sometimes kept without work.
Some employees are routinely kept in the additional group at the MoLMCFAGA, but this time a large number of senior officials have been placed there.
Meanwhile, only one woman secretary is now serving at a ministry inside Singha Durbar. After the government transferred Sarita Dawadi, secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI), to the Office of the Nepal Trust, the number of women secretaries serving in ministries inside Singha Durbar has fallen to one.
Indu Ghimire is currently the only woman secretary serving in a ministry inside Singha Durbar, where she is working at the Ministry of Defense. All other ministries have only male secretaries.
At one point, four ministries inside Singha Durbar had women serving as secretaries. Radhika Aryal was secretary at the Ministry of Communications, Laxmi Basnet at the Ministry of Women, Chandrakala Poudel at the MoLMCFAGA, and Dawadi at the MoEWRI.
Including those serving outside Singha Durbar, there are currently eight women secretaries. They are Radhika Aryal, Chandrakala Poudel, Indu Ghimire, Indira Bhattarai, Laxmi Basnet, Nirmala Bhattarai, Sarita Dawadi and Bindu Bista.
Meanwhile, two more joint secretaries have resigned recently as discussions continue over the introduction of a Federal Civil Service Act.
According to sources at the MoLMCFAGA, Joint Secretaries Rudra Pandit and Rishiraj Acharya have resigned. Pandit was working at the Ministry of Defense, while Acharya was serving at the Investment Board.
