The work on the Federal Civil Service bill, passed by the National Assembly last Tuesday, has disappointed many advocates of a truly federal system. The reason can be summed up by recalling what the chairman of the Public Service Commission, Madhav Prasad Regmi, declared before the parliamentary committee on the bill. He proposed that “provincial secretaries and chief administrative officers of local governments must be federal employees”. This “word of advice” ran directly counter to the 2015 Constitution, yet the National Assembly just followed the same words to the letter.

The Federal Civil Service Act, expected to receive approval in the Lower House next week, may mark the end of a long legislative journey for some, but perhaps the beginning of continued tussles for others.

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