29 Falgun, Dhangadhi.
It has been found that in the Far Western Province, employees at the level of Deputy Secretary have been kept in ministries and directorates and officers have been given the responsibility of office heads.
There is a provision to be an employee of the Chief Undersecretary of the Agricultural Knowledge Center and the Veterinary and Animal Service Center under the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives.
Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, Far Western Province
The Chief Minister’s Office has sent officer-level (sixth and seventh levels) employees to the Agriculture, Veterinary, Livestock and Dairy groups instead of the Deputy Secretary level employees, giving them the responsibility of office heads.
The Office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers has the authority to transfer employees of the Deputy Secretary (ninth level). However, the Chief Minister’s Office has sent officers (sixth and seventh levels) instead of the Deputy Secretary level employees of the Agriculture, Veterinary, Livestock and Dairy groups, with the responsibility of office heads.
According to the Provincial Public Service Commission, 18 people have become deputy secretaries in the agriculture group through open competition and promotion. However, the Chief Minister’s Office has given only some of them the responsibility of the Agricultural Knowledge Center, while the rest have been assigned to work in the directorate.
Durga Dutt Ojha (7th grade) has been given the responsibility of acting head in Agricultural Knowledge Center Doti, Haridutt Joshi (6th grade) in Baitadi, Jasram Sahni (6th grade) in Bajura, and Janak Singh (7th grade) in Bajhang.
In Kailali, Kanchanpur, Darchula, Dadeldhura and Achham, the Deputy Secretary has been given the responsibility of the head of the Agricultural Knowledge Center as per the post allocation. Others have been assigned to work within the Ministry of Agriculture and the Directorate.
Even though there are employees of the Undersecretary level in the Veterinary Hospital and Animal Service Expert Center, lower-level employees have been made chiefs. Recently, six people have become Undersecretaries in the Veterinary and Livestock and Dairy groups through promotions and open competition in the province.
However, the Office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers has not sent them to the Veterinary Hospital and Animal Service Expert Center as per the posts. Instead, they are running offices in their place, like the Agricultural Knowledge Center, on the basis of their duties. Except for the Veterinary Hospital and Animal Service Expert Center in Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dadeldhura, all the responsibilities are on the basis of their duties.
As per the organizational structure, the role of the Office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers has been questioned after the responsibility of office heads was given to lower-level employees instead of to the Under-Secretary level. This is because the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives has the authority to transfer employees up to the eighth level, while the Chief Minister’s Office transfers employees at the Under-Secretary level.
Recently, Senior Divisional Forest Officer Krishna Dutta Bhatta has claimed that he was transferred after Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 500,000 and refused to pay it. There are allegations that lower-level employees have been given responsibilities even at the Agricultural Knowledge Center and Veterinary and Animal Service Center due to financial manipulation.
The Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives are pointing fingers at each other on this issue. Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Shankar Shah, said that the ministry does not have the authority to transfer and post employees of the Deputy Secretary (ninth level).
“Our ministry does not have the authority to transfer employees of the Undersecretariat,” said Secretary Shah. “We do not know this because this work is done by the Chief Minister’s Office. Please find out there.”
Baikuntha Prasad Aryal, Chief Secretary of the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, claimed that although the task of appointing employees is the responsibility of the concerned ministry, the rest will be done by it.
“We will appoint the employees. I don’t know all the other technical details,” Aryal said. “I also don’t understand the technical details of this matter. Please ask the relevant ministry.”
Source: Janak Bistha-Bista is the Kailali correspondent for Online News. Onlinekhabar
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