KATHMANDU: Controversy has erupted in the Federal Parliament after allegations surfaced that the two-year cooling-off period provision, which was unanimously passed by the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee, was altered before the Civil Service Bill was sent to the National Assembly.
Speaker Devraj Ghimire’s role in forwarding the bill has come under scrutiny amid calls for accountability and transparency.
Raising the issue in a committee meeting on Wednesday, CPN-UML lawmaker Krishna Gopal Shrestha questioned Speaker Ghimire’s hasty move to table the bill in the National Assembly, bypassing objections and calls for investigation from several members of parliament. He accused the Speaker of ignoring due process and contributing to a breach of parliamentary ethics.
“Our Speaker is so fast! While we were still discussing it, he rushed it off to the National Assembly. Next, he might as well ask the President to hurry up too,” Shrestha remarked sarcastically during the meeting.
The dispute centers on the removal or dilution of the ‘cooling period’ clause that would have restricted civil servants from immediately entering political positions after resigning. Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties claim that the intent and language of the provision were deliberately altered, compromising the legislative integrity of the bill.
Shrestha described the move not as an error but as a “deliberate and grave offense” against parliamentary procedure. “This is not just about whether the cooling-off period remains or not. It’s about the very credibility and ethics of our parliamentary committees,” he said, adding that those responsible had “committed a premeditated crime, not a mere mistake.”
He went on to demand the resignation of Committee Chair Ramhari Khatiwada and declared that he would no longer recognize Secretary Suraj Kumar Dura as legitimate in the committee. “From tomorrow onward, I do not accept you as the secretary. You should not come to this committee,” Shrestha stated firmly.
Expressing complete loss of trust, Shrestha also announced that he would no longer participate in the committee’s meetings as long as Khatiwada and Dura remained in their positions. He requested that he be reassigned to another committee.
“This incident must serve as a warning for all other parliamentary committees,” Shrestha added. “The intention of the provision was hijacked. What we passed was a two-year cooling-off period, but someone inserted wording that completely changed its meaning. This is nothing less than legislative sabotage.”
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