“Enforcing civil service rule of law for Good Governance”- a three day Human Resource conference began in the capital today. The conference is being coordinated by the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC).
Addressing at least 145 human resource officers from ministries, dzongkhag administrations, and other agencies, the chairperson of the RCSC, Thinley Gyamtsho, shared that the civil service is the backbone of the government.
“Enforcing civil service rule of law for Good Governance is a view of the utmost importance of the rule of law in a democratic system especially in a young democracy like ours.”
Human resource officers are expected to gain skills and knowledge from the conference that will help them uphold the fundamental principles of meritocracy, transparency and accountability in the civil service. Also, under the command of His Majesty the King, the RCSC will soon institute the Royal Civil Service awards. Medals will be awarded to deserving civil servants who have been working for ten years or more.
Meanwhile, the findings of the first HR audit were presented at the conference, today. The Royal Civil Service Commission had audited six government agencies in February this year. They were the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Home and Cultural Affairs, the National Statistics bureau, the dzongkhag administrations of Paro and Trongsa, and the GNH Commission
The Auditing was done in areas like promotion, training, recruitment and extraordinary leave. Auditors found that promotions had been granted to those who were not eligible, and that promotion and performance appraisal forms were not signed by concerned authorities. It was also found that a period of six months in between trainings was not considered.
In terms of recruitment, the HR Audit report shows that vacancies were announced without approval from the respective Human Resource Committees and discrepancies were noticed in interview scores. The report also shows that LTC and annual increments were granted to civil servants who were on extraordinary leave. There were even cases where extraordinary leave was granted to those who were not entitled to such a leave.
The RCSC will carry out HR auditing in various government offices in the future to improve the system of governance. The Royal Civil Service Commission began its HR Audit Services, last year.
