KATHMANDU: Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) lawmaker and member of the parliamentary special investigation committee, Roshan Karki, has claimed that pressure from major political parties prevented the committee from producing a stronger report on the controversial removal of the cooling-off period provision in the Federal Civil Service Bill.
Speaking to journalists at the Parliament building on Tuesday after the committee submitted its report to the Speaker, Karki said, “Because of the arrogance of the major parties, we could not arrive at the kind of conclusion we had hoped for.”
She revealed that it took two days of internal debate just to include the term moral responsibility in the report. According to her, the larger parties were reluctant to use the word, and it was only after significant pressure from the Maoist Centre, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and RPP that the term was finally inserted.
Karki further alleged that State Affairs and Good Governance Committee Chair Ramhari Khatiwada was influenced by pressure from the Nepali Congress leadership and high-level government officials, which led to the controversial removal of the cooling-off clause, a safeguard that would have restricted recently retired civil servants from immediate political appointments.
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