By Purushottam P. Khatri

Kathmandu, Oct. 23:Process of integrating Nepal Police personnel into the state police is only halfway through, although the federal parliament had passed two bills relating to this process a month ago.
Both the House of Representatives (HoR) and the National Assembly had approved the bills relating to the Integration of the Police Employees into Nepal Police and the State Police and the Operation and Supervision of the works to be performed by the Nepal Police and the State Police, on September 18, 2019.
Kedarnath Sharma, joint secretary and administration chief at the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that the process of the integration of the police employees and organisation and management survey (O&M) got stalled after the approved bills failed to have the signatures of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“Until the bills get certification from the President, only further and formal meetings of the O&M Committee will be called,” Sharma said. “We even cannot hold a formal meeting of the O&M Committee unless the bills get certified by the President,” he said.
Currently, the HoR is without its Speaker after the former speaker and lawmaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara was allegedly dragged into a rape scandal, forcing him to step down.
The Ministry of Home Affairs-led O&M survey committee was formed for managing the organisational structure, post and vacancy in the Nepal Police and State Police.
The O&M Committee to be chaired by the Home Secretary could not function or exit until the passed bills gets certification from the President, Sharma said. The Committee has six members. One AIG as chosen by IG of Nepal Police, a joint-secretary from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, a joint-secretary at the Ministry of Finance, a joint-secretary from the Ministry of Law, Justice and the Parliament Affairs and the joint secretary from the Ministry of Home Affairs as its member secretary.
The Committee is mandated to finalise the O&M in both Nepal Police and State Police, their posts, ranks, and vacancies, and to submit the recommendation report to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry will later on table the report to the Cabinet meeting for a final nod.
It was, however, already agreed that the State Police Offices will be headed by Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) in all seven States and the dress code will also be the same like of the present Nepal Police.
The meetings held at the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee (SAGC) on several dates had also agreed to provide the facilities of two grades in their existing salary scales and other perks.
Meanwhile, talking to The Rising Nepal, joint secretary and spokesperson at the Secretariat of the Federal Parliament, Dr. Rojnath Pandey said that two bills relating to Nepal Police and three others were in pending situation after the House lacked Speaker to put signatures in the endorsed bills. Three other bills that are waiting for its signature included the bill related to the National ID and Civil Registration, the bill related to the Eighth Amendment to the Land Act, and the bill related to Amendment and Integration of Industrial Enterprise Act.
After the endorsement of the bills from the respective Houses, it should be signed by the speaker and chairman of the National Assembly as mentioned in the Article 113 of the Constitution, and then only the process to recommend it for its certification from the President will begin, Dr. Pandey said.
According to a preliminary report of the Nepal Police Headquarters, around 70,000 Nepal Police will go through the integration process.