Prime Minister's Office Directs Ministries on O&M Survey, Deadline Extended

Kathmandu. Although the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers directed all ministries on Jestha 12 to complete the Organization and Management (O&M) survey by Ashad 7 with a circular titled 'Regarding Implementation of Decision', it has been found that the directive could not be implemented. After all ministries could not implement the said directive within the stipulated time, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has again quietly extended the deadline until the end of Ashad. 

Spokesperson of the office, Joint Secretary Hemraj Aryal, confirmed that all ministries have not submitted the O&M survey to the Prime Minister's Office within the stipulated time. 'Not all ministries have submitted the O&M. Only 9 ministries have submitted,' Spokesperson Aryal told Ratopati on Monday. 'As ministries have said that the time was short, they have been asked to submit by the end of Ashad.'  

The office has formed a task force of 6 secretaries to discuss the O&M submitted by the ministries and send them back with suggestions. According to Spokesperson Aryal, a task force of 6 secretaries has been formed under the leadership of Secretary Kiranraj Sharma of the Prime Minister's Office. Secretaries Govindabhadur Karki, who looks after governance reforms, and Pushkar Sapkota, who looks after law, from the Prime Minister's Office are members. The members include Finance Secretary Ghanashyam Upadhyay, Industry, Commerce and Supplies Secretary Krishna Bahadur Raut, and Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration Secretary Madan Bhujel. 

According to Joint Secretary Gopal Aryal of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, who is responsible for reviewing the O&M report, the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, and Ministry of Youth, Labor and Employment have submitted their reports. 

Similarly, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Information and Communications, and Ministry of Women, Children, Gender and Social Security have submitted their O&M reports. 

Spokesperson Aryal informed that the task force has discussed the reports of 9 ministries and sent them back to the respective ministries with suggestions. 

The task force stated that the O&M reports are discussed and sent back with suggestions on the same day they are received, or the next day. 

The process of implementing the O&M report is quite long. After the task force returns the report with suggestions to the concerned ministry, the concerned ministry sends it to the Ministry of Finance for opinion. After the Ministry of Finance sends its opinion, the concerned ministry sends it to the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration for decision along with that opinion. The ministry submits it to the Council of Ministers with comments, and after a decision is made, it is returned to the concerned ministry for implementation. 

After the government led by senior leader Balen Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which secured an easy majority in the House of Representatives elections held on Falgun 21, was formed, the Government of Nepal (Work Allocation) Regulations, 2083 was introduced on Jestha 30. By arranging the number of ministries in that regulation, the number of ministries was reduced from 22 to 18. 

While reducing the number of ministries, some ministries were merged, some new ministries were created, and some ministries were kept as they were. A task force was formed under the convenorship of Joint Secretary Govindabhadur Karki of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, who looks after governance reforms, to set guidelines for the organization and management survey in the merged and newly created ministries, titled 'Guidelines on Organization and Management Survey for the Implementation of the Government of Nepal (Work Allocation) Regulations, 2083'. 

The task force recommended 18-point guidelines on organization and management survey for implementation on Jestha 5. According to those criteria, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers had issued a circular titled 'Regarding Implementation of Decision' to all ministries on Jestha 12, directing all ministries to complete the organization and management survey by Ashad 7. 

All ministries failed to comply with that circular within the stipulated time.  It was also stated that in the O&M to be prepared by all ministries by Ashad 7, there would be only one secretary. Currently, the provision of one secretary per ministry has been implemented. However, the O&M has not yet been implemented. 

The Governance Reform Division under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has informed that the concept of one secretary per ministry has been implemented immediately by a cabinet decision, and the O&M will be passed accordingly later. 

When the number of ministries was reduced from 22 to 18 after the government led by Shah took office, some ministries were merged. A new ministry was created by taking parts from two ministries. The name of the new ministry is the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. 

This new ministry has not yet completed its O&M. The ministry's secretary, Pramiladevi Shakya Bajracharya, informed that the O&M work is not yet finished. 

'We are new. We have to do O&M for all subjects,' Secretary Bajracharya told Ratopati. 'It will take some more time. We have already informed the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers about it. They have also given us some time.'