Bill Aims For Civil Service Efficiency

The incumbent coalition government has formed a panel, headed by NC leader and former minister Dilendra Prasad Badu, to hammer out a consensus among political parties on the civil service bill that is long pending in the parliament and break the gridlock to pass the civil service law. The panel comprises parliamentarians representing both the treasury and opposition benches of the Parliament. The sluggishness seen on the part of the ruling coalition to pass the bill has pushed Nepali bureaucracy into a state of disarray.  Some issues in the bill have become thorny and ticklish.  Several interests are enmeshed and involved in it. Civil servants and their unions have their stakes in it for these stakeholders are inclined to ensure that the new civil service law should protect their interests whatsoever. 

Similarly, sub-national governments including the provinces and local governments have their strong stakes in it. The civil service law should have been enacted immediately after the election held in 2074 B.S. following the new federal constitution of Nepal. However, this aspect had not been given enough attention by the succeeding governments, and as a result, the implementation of administrative federalism has not gathered speed.  The problematic issue that is very much undefined is what is generally known as the increased blurring of demarcation of authority between politics and administration. Oftentimes, bureaucrats poach into the territory of policy making which is the exclusive reserve of politicians whereas ministers and policy makers are also tempted to exercise undue influence on the jurisdiction of administrative authority. 

Partisan orientation

The relationship between politics and administration has been tricky not only in Nepal but also in several democratic countries. The civil service bill is also said to be flawed on several counts. There are worries that bureaucracy has been politicised due to their trade union-type associations affiliated with different political parties which has reinforced their partisan orientation. Another major issue that has become a bone of contention is the accountability of the relationship of the civil servants to three-tier governments – federal, state (Pradesh) and local.  Needless to say, bureaucracy forms the core of the state machinery to run the administration of the state.  German scholar Max Weber had made a systematic study of bureaucracy and prescribed impersonality, impartiality and rationality as some of its characteristics. 

The spirit of modern bureaucracy evolved with the contribution of Weber's model of bureaucracy was found to be effective and efficient in several countries. However, it started to lose its efficiency in the changing social and political environment due to changes in the global socio-political environment. This has subjected bureaucracy to severe criticism. Attacks on bureaucracy have become more pronounced during these days. The challenges to bureaucracy today in Nepal can be classified into three types. One of the challenges for which bureaucracy’s efficiency is compromised is the one for which the bureaucrats themselves are directly responsible. This is termed as bureaucratisation. In this case, bureaucrats are using their expertise, knowledge and power to fulfil their interests at the cost of public interests. Sometimes, they make the process of working complex through rigidity and procedural formalism. This kills the very motive of responsiveness to the people.

Another challenge comes directly from politicians and ministers though the bureaucrats can be said to be indirectly responsible for this, too. Here the bureaucrats are getting politicised sometimes willingly to get some undue favour in return and sometimes under heavy pressure. In recent years, bureaucrats have shown a marked tendency to carry out wishes of their political masters without pausing to consider if the contemplated action is in accordance with the law. It destroys the very quality of civil service such as rationality and neutrality. Instead of working for the larger public interest objectively, bureaucrats are compelled to work for the party in power for some narrow vested interests. 

Too much political interference does not allow many honest officials to work for the larger good. If upright and honest officials refuse to obey the illegal orders of the elected executives, they have to face several problems. The honest bureaucrats are transferred very frequently to the least favoured places or to unimportant posts where there is very little or no work to do. When some officials highly dedicated to the cause of the society stand up against any corrupt practices in which some politicians or their friends, family or relatives are involved, the officials are prevented by any means from doing so. The third challenge to bureaucracy comes in the form of competition with other actors in the production and delivery of services to meet the people’s demands and expectations. 

Public scrutiny

Earlier, the bureaucracy had a monopoly regarding the production and delivery of services to the citizens. Today, civil servants have to play competing roles with other actors. In today’s governance, the work of bureaucracy is always under public scrutiny and monitoring. It is a challenge for civil servants to satisfy the rising expectations of the public and fulfil their demands. Governance today involves network management and interactive policy-making whereby multiple actors like private, non-governmental, and voluntary organisations take part. Here the roles and challenges of bureaucracy increase as it has to bring all these players to the table to negotiate and facilitate policy-making taking them into confidence. 

Bureaucracy today has, therefore, to work as a negotiator, facilitator and regulator as well as a provider of services. The Badu-led committee is expected to ensure that the civil service bill incorporates the provisions which can make the bureaucracy competent, responsive and responsible but also build a network of different actors and stakeholders involved in governance and development. 

(Rijal, PhD, contributes regularly to TRN and writes on contemporary political, economic and governance issues. rijalmukti@gmail.com)