Why are CDOs still taking orders from Kathmandu?

While the federal gov­ernment continues to keep the Chief Dis­trict Officers (CDOs) under its control, the internal affairs ministers of all seven prov­inces have called for bring­ing them under the remit of provincial governments. The CDOs under the fed­eral government, in their reckoning, cannot ensure law and order out in the provinces.

Speaking at an inter-prov­ince meeting on law and secu­rity in Biratnagar, internal affairs and law ministers of dif­ferent provinces complained that the federal government was not serious about main­taining law and order in the provinces.

“The officer responsible for law and order should work under the provincial govern­ments. The CDOs may report to the federal government only on matters related to cit­izenship, passport, and bor­der security,” said Gyanen­dra Kumar Yadav, Province 2 Minister for Internal Affairs and Law. “If not, we should be authorized to keep district administrators of our own. The provincial government finds it difficult to function as the CDOs report to the federal government.”

Hikmat Kumar Karki, Min­ister for Internal Affairs and Law of Province 1, said none of the seven provinces would support having two admin­istrators in a district. But if the federal government was not ready to let the CDOs report to the provincial governments on matters of security and criminal inves­tigation, they may think of a second district administrator, he warned.

“Let us agree with the prop­osition of Province 2. The federal government should authorize current CDOs to coordinate with the provincial governments on security and criminal investigation,” Karki said. “Only talking about fed­eralism won’t work. It’s cru­cial to maintain law and order in the provinces. The central government should make pro­visions so that district admin­istrators coordinate with the provincial governments on this matter.”

The CDOs may coordinate with the federal government on issues related to interna­tional border, fiscal policy, cit­izenship, and foreign affairs, he added.

The ministers also asked the federal government to give a clear outline of the role of provincial police for law enforcement.

Province 5 Internal Affairs and Law Minister, Kul Prasad KC, told reporters after the meeting that the provincial government was facing diffi­culties due to ambiguity about the police’s role. “We are facing problems with police mobilization. For the past one year, ministers of all seven provinces have been trying to work out a way to mobilize the police.”

“Maintaining law and order is the sole authority of a pro­vincial government. In Prov­ince 2, we had last year made a law regarding provincial police services. But as the federal government is yet to come up with a federal police act, we have been unable to implement it,” Minister Yadav said.

At the end of the meeting, the ministers issued a joint 10-point statement, calling for measures to improve the law and order situation in the provinces through nec­essary legal and institutional arrangements.

Prompt action by the fed­eral government to clear the way for provincial police act and delegation of authority to the provincial government on matters of law and order are among the major points in the statement. The ministers have also called for law-making and implementation to adhere to the spirits of federalism and good governance.