What held the bill back?
Civil Service Act 31 July, 2009 - The
civil service bill saw a strange situation on Wednesday, with the joint
sitting approving almost all its clauses through simple majority votes,
which included DPT MPs, but then the bill was rejected in the end, when
the prime minister and a few others opposed some of the earlier
approved clauses.
The prime minister said, “The removal of this clause will not give civil servants the kind of protection they need since, in order to serve the majority, civil servants will often find themselves in conflict with a few.” He added, “If we don’t give them this protection, we fear the civil service will lose the motivation, conviction and determination to pursue unpopular actions that they are required to take.”
The Opposition leader said, “The rule of law protects every citizen of Bhutan and civil servants don’t need any additional protection since, if there is cause for any citizen to be prosecuted in court, then so be it, which will determine the innocence or guilt.”
NC MP Karma Y Raydi said, “In Bhutan, prosecution against civil servant is usually done by ACC and the fact they are ready to do so must mean that ACC has done its investigations and consulted with the office of the attorney general on the legal aspects. So, what happens if RCSC in future refuses to allow ACC to prosecute an official?”
Another point of contention involved the removal of the phrase ‘A civil servant shall refrain from expressing adverse opinions against the royal government’ under the ‘duties and rights’ section of the civil service bill.
Talking to Kuensel in favour of this clause, Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said, “Yes, it is in conflict with the freedom of speech in the constitution, but those who join the civil service know that there are certain prerequisites and criticising the government in any forum would be directly in contention with their constitutional duty to be apolitical and harm the people’s faith in the government.” He said that the civil service system provides an avenue for civil servants to express and present their grievances.
National Council MP Karma Y Raydi said, “I don’t agree that civil servants should openly criticise the government, as they are apolitical and supposed to implement policies, but the definition is too wide and could even stop them from giving good feedback.”
The Opposition leader Tshering Tobgay said, “The constitution gives every Bhutanese the fundamental right to freedom of expression and you can’t stop the civil servants from expressing adverse opinion, because some of it may be in the interest of the country and it isn’t correct to say that doing so is being political.”
The final and most contentious issue was when the simple majority voted at first in favor of cancelling clauses in the ACC, audit and election acts that gave these agencies control over their civil servants, however confusion ensued when the same majority later voted in favour of another clause that gave these agencies control over their civil servants.
Another related contention was over whether the RCSC act applied to civil servants in the judiciary, as the act did not repeal the judicial services act.
NA DPT MP Ugen Tenzin said, “The problem is in the different views on civil servants in the legislature and constitutional bodies, with some saying they’re under RCSC and some saying they’re independent.”
Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said, “The bill in its present form doesn’t express the confidence of lawmakers in RCSC as a constitutional body, which must play a central role in ensuring uniform and equitable rules and regulations that will govern all public servants.”
MP Karma Y Raydi said, “It was both houses, who resolved that the judiciary would have its own services act and then NA sent us the proposal of having separate service acts for the judiciary and legislature. so the house just went by that.”
