NA adopts civil service bill

13 July 2009

After deliberating for five days, for about 30 hours, the National Assembly yesterday adopted the Civil Service bill 2009.

Adopting the bill, Speaker Jigme Tshulthrim said the house had given due importance to the three branches of the government. The adoption of the bill, he said, would help the constitutional post holders and civil servants tackle their responsibilities conveniently. The final version of the bill highlighted some major amendments.

The Royal Civil Service Commission, as the central personnel agency of the government, will now ensure that recruitment, promotion, selection, training and appointment of civil servants are done in a fair and transparent manner.

According to the act, the RCSC shall provide adequate autonomy to the constitutional offices in relation to recruitment, promotion, transfer and training of their employees.

Constitutional bodies and autonomous agencies are to be considered part of one of the three branches of the government. The legislature, Attorney General and holders of the constitutional offices and their members will be outside the jurisdiction of the Civil Service Act.

The Assembly also resolved that a secretary to the government will be the highest position in the civil service and shall serve a term of five years or until the superannuation age, whichever comes first. This, parliamentarians said, was done in order to provide opportunities to younger, capable civil servants.

“Only the best and capable civil servants will be chosen as government secretaries,” said the speaker, adding that the entitlements for the secretaries needed to be made separately.

The house also held that a civil servant’s promotion would be subject to conditions prescribed by the Bhutan Civil Service Rules which demand proven leadership and positive feedback for the promotion of a senior civil servant to grade three and above. It was decided that there would not e retroactive promotion.

To be eligible to hold office as a member of RCSC, a person will be required to have rendered a minimum of 20 years of service with a clean record either in the civil service or the public sector.

RCSC will now make rules and regulations in consultation with relevant agencies and the Judicial and Legislature’s service council or it will have a commissioner as the member representative.

“A civil servant shall be terminated from service if he or she is convicted by the court of law for a criminal offence of misdemeanor and above for offences related to official functions,” according to the amendment.

The commission will also provide administrative and legal support to civil servants in respect to decisions taken in good faith or intended, according to official duties.

However, if a civil servant is compulsorily retired from the service for a criminal offence not related to official functions, he or she will be entitled to post service benefits.

The Act will now be forwarded to the National Council for review.

BY PUSHKAR CHHETRI

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