The government is preparing to amend the Civil Servant Act to include a provision barring government officials from holding permanent resident status in other countries, Minister for General Administration Lal Babu Pandit said on Sunday.   

Speaking at an interaction organised by the Reporters’ Club in the Capital, Pandit claimed that nearly 1,100 senior government officials possess foreign residency documents.  “Civil servants who dream of acquiring diversity visas and settling abroad cannot build the country. They should not keep their job,” he said.   

Not only is the government amending the Civil Servant Act, Pandit said, it is also planning to make public the names of government job holders having residency permits for other countries.  He informed that the ministry is collecting the names of those who have obtained permanent resident status in foreign countries.

The Cabinet has already given its go-ahead to the Ministry of General Administration to amend the Civil Servant Act, the minister said. After the amendment is endorsed, government officials with permanent resident status in other countries will have to leave their jobs, according to Pandit.

Published on: 31 March  2014 | The Kathmandu Post