The Ministry of General Administration (MoGA) on Monday submitted a list of 18 civil servants holding Green Card, Diversity Visa (DV) or permanent residency (PR) in foreign countries to the State Affairs Committee (SAC) of parliament.

Though the Minister for General Administration Lal Babu Pandit has been claiming that there are as many as thousand civil servants holding dual nationality, the ministry has submitted only 18 names to SAC. Pandit claimed that the ministry has forwarded a list of civil servants, who have proactively come forward to disclose their dual nationality. “It is possible for us to submit all the names only after a law in this regard comes into effect. We cannot accuse civil servants of holding dual nationality without bringing such a law,” Pandit told Republica. 

A bill in this regard prepared by MoGA has proposed that civil servants holding dual nationality should either choose their government jobs or their residency abroad. As per the proposal, DV/PR or Green Card holding civil servants should renounce their foreign nationality after law comes into effect. SAC had directed Pandit to submit the names and other details of civil servants holding dual nationality within three days during the deliberations on bill the on fourth amendment to the Civil Service Act. MoGA has been claiming that the actual number of civil servants holding dual nationality would be made public after the law comes into effect. 

During the SAC meeting last Wednesday, lawmakers had opined that the bill on amendment to the Civil Service Act cannot be endorsed without ascertaining the actual number of civil servants holding dual nationality.  However, Pandit accused lawmakers on the committee of trying to defer endorsement of the bill by parliament. “Some of the leaders and lawmakers are trying to derail the process. But I am fighting against it,” said Pandit. The committee has refused to provide the list forwarded by MoGA to the media.

Published on: 10 December 2014 | Republica