Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress lawmaker Ram Hari Khatiwada has submitted his resignation from the post of Chairperson of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives to Speaker Devraj Ghimire.
Khatiwada met Speaker Ghimire on Wednesday and handed over his resignation letter. The Chief Whips of ruling coalition partners, Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML, were also present on the occasion.
“As announced during my speech at the meeting of the House of Representatives on August 12, I hereby resign from the post of Chairperson of the Committee on State Affairs and Good Governance with immediate effect,” Khatiwada’s resignation letter states.
A two-year cooling-off period for civil servants before taking up political appointments after retirement was one of the most debated provisions in the Federal Civil Service Bill. Although top bureaucrats, including the Chief Secretary, had openly lobbied against the provision, the Khatiwada-led committee incorporated it into the Bill, preventing senior bureaucrats from taking ambassadorial, constitutional, or other government positions within two years of their retirement.
However, the Bill approved by the House of Representatives included a new sub-clause stating that the provision would not apply to constitutional and diplomatic appointments made by the government.
A Parliamentary Investigation Special Committee was formed to examine how the sub-clause was incorporated in the Bill tabled in the House of Representatives for endorsement. The committee, led by Jeevan Pariyar of Nepali Congress, stated that there had been deliberate tampering with the provisions regarding the “cooling-off period” and concluded that both Chairperson Khatiwada and Secretary Suraj Kumar Dura should bear moral responsibility.
Khatiwada said on Tuesday that the error related to the cooling-off period was not committed by him and added that he had no personal interest in the Bill. “However, since I signed the House committee’s report on the Bill, I felt I must take responsibility,” he said.
Taking a dig at ruling coalition partner CPN-UML, Khatiwada said that proposing an amendment contrary to the cooling-off period has raised suspicions that the bureaucracy may have been influenced during the drafting process.
He was referring to amendments to the Bill registered in the National Assembly by UML lawmakers.
