Recruitment decisions to fulfill various
openings in Nepali organizations show that many of them are defective,
unprofessional and full of controversies. In many cases there are deep-rooted
political motives, personal biases and non-compliance of laws that are
followed by judicial interventions for resolutions of those controversies.
Such practices have not only encouraged the power brokers to lobby for
political appointments to get advantages at the cost of nation and citizens.
They have also demotivated the employees down the line and have furthered
unhealthy competitions, favouritism, nepotism and unprofessional nexus
between employees and employers. This tendency allows wrong people to
assume reigns of organizations that sometimes create bad public perception
towards the political system as a whole.
Six years ago, the government announced
vacancy for 16,000 permanent positions for school teachers. Written exams
were taken and 20,000 candidates were selected to go for interviews. Before
these results were published, the government changed Educational Regulation
2049 on the initiation of the then Education Minister Govind Raj Joshi,
enabling more 64,000 candidates pass the written exams. The Commission
for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, asked the Prime Minister
to take action against Joshi, but the Authority's request was not implemented.
Interview was scheduled. The Authority ordered not to conduct the interviews.
As many teachers were already on the district headquarters to face interviews,
it later agreed to let the government go ahead with the interview considering
practical difficulties. But it also gave clear instructions not to publish
the results. The Minister went to Supreme Court filing a written petition
and demanding orders including certiorari as he claimed that his constitutional
right was infringed. Surprisingly, in the mean time, KP Bhattarai government
decided to confirm all teachers who had completed temporary tenure of
at least one year. But this was not implemented as the court intervented.
Supreme Court has decided to finalize the case over a three weeks time.
Not only the applicants have suffered but the quality of education has
also lagged behind due to this episode.
The appointment of the governor to the
Central Bank is also a case here. The then Finance Minister resigned from
his post as Dr. Tilak Rawal was appointed the governor by the Council
of Ministers despite his reservation over the selection in view of KPMG
report. The report was about the performance of state-owned banks including
Rastriya Banijya Bank where Dr. Rawal once served as its Chief Executive
Officer. With the change in the government, Dr. Rawal was relieved from
his services even before his term expired. And he was replaced by one
retired bureaucrat. Dr. Rawal went to the Supreme Court seeking justice.
The Supreme Court reinstated him saying termination of services before
expiry of the term was illegal.
Vested political interests also surfaced
when there was a row over the choice of Inspector General of Police. Baldev
Prasad Majgainya resigned as the minister when the secretary to his ministry
appointed by the Council of Ministers was not of his choice.
A similar type of fate was experienced
by one of the financial institutions established for the development of
municipalities. The selection of Chief Executive Officer for the organization
took almost two years though the law required that it should be done within
three months of the vacancy announcement. The row over the choice of candidates
among the Board Members consisting mostly of bureaucrats from various
ministries and the funding agency resulted in cancellation of the original
vacancy. The selection saga concluded with the appointment of the candidate
of the donor's choice by orchestrating a new selection committee, re-publication
of vacancy announcement and making final selection within three months.
The organization was leaderless creating management vacuum and confusion
for over two years.
Not that such episodes are only in the
public sector. Recent experiences show that it is being experienced also
in the private sector. Nepal Bank Ltd. in which the Board has majority
from the private sector could not appoint the General Manager for about
two years, and dragged along with an Acting General Manager.
