Bhubaneswar, Jan. 31: Members of the Odisha Administrative Service Association have decided to launch an agitation from tomorrow demanding immediate implementation of their cadre-restructuring plan.
In the first phase of the agitation, nearly 1,400 gazetted officers will wear black badges between February 1 and 7.
If this failed to draw the government’s attention, the officer would begin pen down strike, cease work and would finally proceed on mass leave, a member of the association said.
On May 23 last year, the state government had circulated a proposal to revamp the Odisha Civil Service (OAS) cadre. But the association alleged that though the government had received a positive response, no effort was taken to implement the plan.
At present, 1,416 OAS officials serve in the state. Of them, 984 are under secretary, 210 deputy secretary, 143 joint secretary, 71 additional secretary and eight special secretary. The cadre-restructuring proposal has advocated 630 OAS as under secretary, 438 as deputy secretary, 208 as joint secretary, 120 as additional secretary and 20 as special secretary.
The document prepared by the state government also said that while at the entry-level (under secretary) there were 984 posts, at the next level there were only 210 posts of deputy secretaries.
This created a huge gap, which gets furthered constricted as one climbs the hierarchy. This situation prevents officers from getting promotion even after 16 to 18 years of service at the entry-level.
“It is so frustrating that that even after getting promotions, some officers continue to serve at the entry-level posts. Some of my colleagues are serving as tehsildars for 12 to 14 years,’’ said Nirmal Chandra Mishra, president of the association.
Association secretary Jyoti Ranjan Mishra said: “Our counterparts are getting time-bound promotion in states such as Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.”
Asis Das, who left the government to join a corporate house, said: “I never found the career progression in the government interesting. I feel that there is no clear-cut policy for career progression for an OAS officer.”
Besides, 270 posts of OAS are lying vacant at the entry-level. In the last two decades, only four recruitment exams were held.
“Without adding new entrants and managing with the same numbers is making the cadre sick and now people are not interested to take up the job,” said an OAS official.
In a related development, the state government has decided to give fixed tenures of two years to all-India service officers.
It will also set up a Civil Services Board to regulate appointments and transfers.
Official sources made it clear that it would bring in the appropriate regulation only after the Centre notified its board and framed the necessary rules.
