The house of review deferred deliberation regarding the payment of leave encashment to LG members; discussion on concerns related to G2C services was also deferred until a new government is elected.
Issue related to LG members’ entitlement first came to light last year in December where council members asked for a clear directive on payment of leave encashment to LG members from Home Ministry and Department of Local Governance.
And in February this year, the Department of Local Governance launched the LG Members’ Entitlement Rules and Regulations 2018. The new rules and regulations should, on paper, implement the provisions of the LG Members’ Entitlement Act of Bhutan 2015.
The Section 15 of the Act provides LG members to five categories of paid leave; one of which is earned leave, where members can encash. “Be it members of the local government, Parliament, or civil servants, the National Council wanted the leave encashment entitlements same for all.” said the Deputy Chairperson of National Council, Jigme Wangchuk. “But their rules and regulations has no clarity on why it has to be given or why it was not given. That is why for now, we feel it will be difficult for the LG members to get leave encashment.” he added.
The Deputy Chairperson presented before the house that the decision to ensure leave encashment for local government members be deliberated only after a new government is formed.
The discussions on the concerns regarding the Government to Citizen services were also deferred until a new government takes over. The Council Member from Bumthang, Nima said:“After our discussions, we decided that all matters related to the G2C services like those coming from the constituencies, news ideas and recommendations from the members of the house can be discussed and deliberated when a new government comes in.”
Following this, the National Council agreed to follow-up on the resolutions when a new government steps in.
