Loksewa Posts & Service Groups: Kharidar to Secretary Explained

Nepal's permanent bureaucracy is called the civil service, or nijamati sewa (निजामती सेवा), and it is governed by the Civil Service Act, 2049 (1993 AD) and the Civil Service Rules, 2050 (1994 AD). Every post sits in one of two broad tiers. Gazetted officers (rajpatrankit, राजपत्रांकित) hold decision-making authority and their appointments are published in the Nepal Gazette; non-gazetted staff (rajpatra anankit, राजपत्र अनंकित) form the assistant and clerical base of every office.

Within each tier there are numbered classes. The gazetted tier runs Special Class at the top, then First, Second and Third Class. The non-gazetted tier runs First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Class. In everyday terms the ladder from the bottom is Kharidar (non-gazetted second class), Nayab Subba (non-gazetted first class), Section Officer or Sakha Adhikrit (gazetted third class), Under Secretary (gazetted second class), Joint Secretary (gazetted first class) and Secretary (special class), with the Chief Secretary at the apex.

The Act also constitutes a set of functional services that a post belongs to. The principal services are Nepal Administration Service, Nepal Foreign Service, Nepal Judicial Service, Nepal Audit Service, Nepal Engineering Service, Nepal Economic Planning and Statistics Service, Nepal Agriculture Service, Nepal Forestry Service and Nepal Miscellaneous Service, while the Health and Education sectors are organised under their own service rules. Each service is further divided into groups and sub-groups (for example the Administration Service contains the General Administration, Revenue and Accounts groups), and this group determines which subjects a candidate is examined on.

Kharidar (खरिदार) is the entry-level assistant post of the civil service, classified as non-gazetted second class. Kharidars handle record-keeping, correspondence, registration, service-delivery counters and general office support in ministries, district offices and local bodies. It is one of the most heavily contested Loksewa exams every year because the minimum academic bar is low and the number of vacancies is large.

The minimum qualification for Kharidar (non-technical) is passing the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) or Secondary Education Examination (SEE), which makes it accessible to school graduates. The age range for open candidates is 18 to 35 years; the upper limit is 40 years for women and persons with disabilities, and permanent civil servants applying internally are exempt from the age ceiling. Recruitment is through the Public Service Commission (Loksewa Aayog) via a written examination followed, for many groups, by an interview or practical test.

On the pay scale that became effective from Shrawan 2079 (mid-2022) and continued through FY 2082/83, the starting basic monthly salary of a Kharidar was NPR 32,902, before annual grade increments, the dearness allowance and local or post allowances. A civil servant earns an additional grade (increment) after each qualifying year of service, and a monthly dearness allowance of NPR 5,000 applied across the service in recent fiscal years. Because pay tables are reset periodically in the Finance Act, always confirm the current figure against the Ministry of Finance schedule for the fiscal year you are checking.

Nayab Subba (नायब सुब्बा), often written Na.Su. or NASU, is the senior non-gazetted post, classified as non-gazetted first class. A Nayab Subba supervises Kharidars, drafts and processes files, prepares office notes and acts as the bridge between the clerical base and the gazetted officers. It is a highly sought role because it is the last rung before the officer (gazetted) tier and is reachable both by direct open competition and by internal promotion from Kharidar.

There are two routes to becoming a Nayab Subba, which answers the common query 'nayab subba kasari banne'. The first is the open Loksewa examination: the minimum qualification is the Proficiency Certificate Level or 10+2 (intermediate) from a recognised institution, with the same 18-to-35 age band (40 for women and persons with disabilities). The second route is internal promotion from Kharidar based on seniority and performance after the required years of service. The written examination for Na.Su. tests general knowledge, the Constitution and governance of Nepal, office management and the service-group subjects, followed by an interview.

On the same reference pay scale, a newly appointed Nayab Subba started at a basic monthly salary of about NPR 34,730, above a Kharidar and below a Section Officer, again exclusive of grade increments and allowances. Beyond pay, the post carries clear promotion prospects: a diligent Nayab Subba can compete for or be promoted to the Section Officer (gazetted) level and continue up the officer ladder.

Section Officer, or Sakha Adhikrit (शाखा अधिकृत), is the entry point into the gazetted officer tier, classified as gazetted third class. This is the single most prestigious Loksewa target for graduates because it is where real decision-making authority, a jump in pay and a defined path toward secretary-level posts begin. Answering 'sakha adhikrit ko kaam': a Section Officer heads a section (sakha) within an office, supervises the non-gazetted staff under them, takes and defends administrative decisions, drafts policy and correspondence, and represents the office in coordination work.

The educational qualification is a Bachelor's degree; the specific field depends on the service group. Foreign Affairs and General Administration accept a Bachelor's in any field, the Accounts and Audit groups require Management, Commerce, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics or Public Administration backgrounds, and the Judicial Service requires a Bachelor's in Law (LL.B.). The open-competition age range is 18 to 35 years, extended to 40 for women and persons with disabilities, with no age ceiling for serving civil servants applying internally.

On the reference scale, a Section Officer's basic monthly salary started at roughly NPR 43,689, a substantial rise over the non-gazetted posts, and rose with grade increments toward the low forty-thousands over a career before promotion to Under Secretary. Because 'sakha adhikrit ko salary' and the salary of every other post are governed by the annual Finance Act, the exact opening figure and any percentage rise should be confirmed against the current-year Ministry of Finance salary schedule.

The Public Service Commission integrated Section Officer examination is run in three broad stages, and each stage is eliminatory: only those who clear one stage advance to the next. The First Stage (preliminary) is a single objective paper of 100 marks made up of multiple-choice questions covering general awareness, aptitude and English, with a duration of about 90 minutes; a candidate must typically score at least 45 to qualify, and negative marking applies for wrong answers.

The Second Stage (main) is the subjective written examination. For most services it consists of three papers of 100 marks each, for a total of 300 marks, with three hours allotted per paper and a per-paper pass requirement. Candidates for the Foreign Affairs Service sit additional papers on English language and on foreign policy and international relations, which raises the Foreign Service written total to around 400 marks; those extra papers are answered in English.

The Final Stage evaluates practical skills and personality: a computer or IT skill test, a group test, and an interview. Exact marks for this stage are revised by the Commission from time to time and vary slightly between services, so candidates should read the specific vacancy notice (bigyapan) and syllabus for the cycle they are applying to. The final merit list combines the second-stage written marks with the final-stage marks.

The class ladder (Kharidar to Secretary) is the same across the bureaucracy, but the subjects examined and the day-to-day work depend on the service group a post belongs to. The Nepal Administration Service is the largest and staffs district administration, home affairs and general governance; it contains the General Administration, Revenue and Accounts groups. The Nepal Foreign Service staffs the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nepal's embassies and missions abroad, and its officer exam includes the extra English and international-relations papers noted above ('foreign service officer nepal').

The Nepal Audit Service supports the Office of the Auditor General and financial oversight; the Nepal Judicial Service staffs courts, the law ministry and the government attorney offices and generally requires a law degree. The technical services recruit specialists: the Nepal Engineering Service (civil, electrical, mechanical, survey and related groups) builds and maintains public infrastructure, while the Health and Education sectors, organised under their own service rules, staff government hospitals, health posts, schools and the education administration.

For technical and health posts the equivalence is expressed in numbered levels rather than only in named ranks, but the gazetted and non-gazetted logic is the same. A candidate should always match three things before applying: the service and group, the required academic discipline for that group, and the level or class of the advertised post.

The civil service is built for long careers, and each post is a rung rather than a destination. A typical bottom-up path runs Kharidar to Nayab Subba, then into the gazetted tier as Section Officer, and upward to Under Secretary (gazetted second class), Joint Secretary (gazetted first class) and Secretary (special class), with the Chief Secretary as the head of the administration. Movement up happens through a mix of open competition and internal promotion based on seniority, performance evaluation, training and educational qualification.

Pay grows in two ways: by an annual grade (increment) within a post, and by the larger jump that comes with promotion to the next class. Because the reference basic salaries cited above (roughly NPR 32,902 for Kharidar, NPR 34,730 for Nayab Subba and NPR 43,689 for Section Officer on the scale effective from Shrawan 2079) exclude increments, the dearness allowance and post allowances, real take-home pay rises steadily with service years. All base figures are set and revised in the annual Finance Act.

Under the Civil Service Act, 2049, the general retirement age has long been fifty-eight years, and periodic reform bills have proposed changes to the retirement age and to Public Service Commission eligibility rules. Anyone planning a civil-service career should confirm the current retirement age, age limits and pay scale from the latest law and the Ministry of Finance schedule, because these are the details most likely to change from year to year.