Dechen Dolkar 

If the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) does not consider the promotions of 53 civil servants, whose promotions were revoked, the civil servants at the senior supervisory and support category (SS) level could lose more than Nu 100,000 in six months.

Many civil servants are facing huge financial implications with the six-month delay in promotion considering their basic pay, allowances, provident funds, and benefits.

For the professional and management category (PMC) level, financial implications could be even higher.

The RCSC has revoked the promotion of 53 civil servants in Pemagatshel, which was due last month because document submission in the Zhiyog Electronic System (ZESt) was not completed before the deadline. 

If a civil servant is promoted from SS4 to SS3, the basic salary would be increased by more than Nu 2,000 a month. The allowances for civil servants also increase when their basic salary increases. This means a civil servant would have to forgo more than 20,000 in a month.

Some civil servants are superannuating by the beginning of next year, others will be promoted from supervisory to senior supervisory which will be their last promotion.

For a civil servant, currently, in the S1 level, the promotion due is for SS4 level, which is equivalent to grade 8. With the promotion, he or she gets the opportunity to serve for additional two years. 

According to BCSR 2018, a civil servant will retire after attaining the age of 56 for S5 to S1 level and 58 for SS4 to SS1 level.

 “After promotion, I thought I will get two more years to serve since my superannuation age will be 58 years,” a civil servant said.

A civil servant said that even if they get a promotion in January next year, six months have been lost already, which will have huge financial implications. “For us, we get a promotion only after every five years and, when it is revoked for doing nothing wrong, it demotivates us.”

Many claim that 53 civil servants are being punished for doing nothing wrong.

Civil servants say that the RCSC should reconsider their promotion and provide salary increments as arrears.

The affected civil servants did not appeal further after appealing to RCSC and Prime Minister, feeling that they could be blacklisted for doing nothing wrong.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, they are discussing the issue with the RCSC.