As 10 ministries reduce to 9 one minister will step down

With the Civil Service Reform Bill passing in the National Assembly and it expected to sail smoothly through the National Council, one major change is the reduction of 10 ministries into nine.

This is due to the deletion of two ministries which are the Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC) and the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources (MoLHR) and the addition of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.

Once the Bill becomes and Act after passing in the NC and getting Royal Assent then technically the ministers of MoIC and MoLHR will be losing their portfolios.

The MoLHR minister Lyonpo Karma Dorji said, “We have not had any formal discussions in any formal setting but informally this talk has been going. Since it is an urgent bill when it is passed it is very clear to has to be effective from when it passes.”

The minister said that in these informal discussions three ministers have come forward to resign, but he declined to name them.

When asked about which minister will step down the Prime Minister Dasho (Dr) Lotay Tshering who will have an important role to play in this as the head of the cabinet said, “That we don’t know. First let it come and we have to meet. The legal part or implementation has not yet started as it has to be passed. It will be effective from the day NC passes and it is signed by His Majesty.”

He said the Civil Service Reform Bill is not like a money bill or tax bill which will be implemented on that very day as the process must start after the Royal Assent.

“If we do it, we have to do it before the tenure of the government ends as when there are only nine ministries we cannot have 10 ministers as the minister is the head of the ministry,” said Lyonchhen.

Lyonchhen said in the Parliament that whatever is there in the Bill will be followed by the government.

He said the Bill would impact 46 Acts and their provisions and so it is not clear by which month it will happen.

Giving an example he said that under the Bill the National Environment Commission will be merged with the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources but it is not clear by when it will happen.

“The Act will supersede everything else and later RCSC will recommend and one by one we will have to amend,” said the PM.