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Posted
on 14-Nov-02 10:55 PM
what do u all think about this?
Govt to deploy powerful anti-graft teams
By Yuvraj Acharya
KATHMANDU, Nov 14
A high-powered adminis-trative agency with quasi-judicial power will be set up soon. An ordinance would soon be issued to facilitate creation of such an agency, an official source told The Kathmandu Post.
The agency, which will deploy its teams throughout the country, would have the rights to hear people’s grievances, investigate and address those grievances and punish the government officials if they were found not addressing to the people’s problems.
A decision to this effect was made in the meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Thursday. The teams will have carte blanche powers to take on-the-spot disciplinary action against those failing to fulfill their duties as per the people’s requirements.
The objective of this measure is to control corruption at all levels as per the government’s principal terms of reference given by the King, a cabinet source told The Kathmandu Post. He also informed that the ordinance for this purpose would probably be issued in a day or two.
The source said that a committee headed by the Home Minister would be formed to coordinate and monitor the functioning of these teams, to be deployed in various districts and zones as per requirement.
These teams deployed in the particular regions would enjoy full-fledged power to listen to the people’s complaints and take immediate action against the government employees found involved in the wrongdoing, the source further said. "The teams could even suspend and dismiss any lower level government official," the source said. "But they will have to recommend the concerned departmental heads for necessary action if a person is of gazetted rank."
The central monitoring committee’s recommendations will be obligatory for any government departments or the authorities. The committee will also have an exclusive right to take disciplinary action against the authority that declines to abide by its recommendation. The teams, though termed as Public Services Monitoring and Supervision Team, will enjoy full judicial rights as enjoyed by a court during the investigation process. It can independently interrogate and investigate into any individual.
The ordinance will also determine some code of conduct for the team members and they can be immediately recalled and action taken if found misusing their authority.
The Home Ministry forwarded the draft of the ordinance to the cabinet last week but the latter delayed on the matter due to some technical questions raised by the Public Service Commission.
The Commission that looks after the matters of recruitment and dismissal of the government’s civil servants had denied giving consent for empowering an outsider to take disciplinary action against the government officials.
As per the Civil Service Act, a political appointee cannot be authorised to take disciplinary action against civil servants.
"There have been necessary changes in the ordinance so as to rule out contradiction with other governing laws," said the source.
Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, which is the authorised ministry to prepare the draft laws, gave a final touch to the ordinance on Thursday morning.
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