Cuttack, Sept. 14: The future of 378 Odisha Civil Service officers continues to hang in the balance after Orissa High Court stayed the Odisha Administrative Tribunal's order quashing their appointment.

The five-year legal tangle over the validity of their appointment shows no signs of being resolved, languishing in the high court for more than a year now.

Though listed twice last week, the matter has gone without hearing. It has been listed again for hearing this week.

Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) conducted Odisha Civil Services Examination-2006 after inviting applications for recruitment to the posts and services in Category I and II.

Category-I included Class II posts of Odisha Administrative Service, Odisha Finance Service, Odisha Co-operative Service, Odisha Employment Service and Odisha Welfare Service with a basic pay scale of Rs 6,500. Those in Category-II included Specially Declared Gazetted Sub-Registrar and Odisha Settlement & Consolidation Service with Rs 5,500 as basic pay.

At the end of the selection process in June 2010, the OPSC had recommended 378 candidates. The state government, however, appointed the selected candidates in Class I and Class II posts.

Suravi Mohanty and eight others challenged the legality of the appointment in Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT). In April last year, the tribunal quashed the appointment in Class I and II posts on the ground that the OPSC's advertisement was issued for Class II and Specially Declared Gazetted Category posts for which selection was made accordingly.

Subsequently, a batch of petitions, including one by 55 Odisha Finance Service officers who were among the 378 candidates, challenged the tribunal order in the high court. Acting on it, the high court issued an interim stay on the tribunal order in June last year. The state government has also challenged the OAT order.

The state government has said that the 378 candidates were appointed at a time when there was a revision in cadres and pay scales at the stage of initial recruitment in services under Odisha Civil Service.

Consequently, candidates selected for Class II were appointed in Class I posts with Rs 15,600 as basic pay and Specially Declared Gazetted in Class II posts with basic pay of Rs 6,500.