Extension of age of retirement granted twice to Sri Amiya Kumar Sarangi for the same post as Secretary, OLA

Extension of age of retirement granted twice to Sri Amiya Kumar Sarangi for the same post as Secretary, Odisha Legislative Assembly- What for?

Few officers in State Govt. are either given re-appointment or granted extension of their service time and again even after their appointment by the competent authority citing the ground of excellent service provided by them. Such extension of the service granted to these officers raise a lot of questions in public mind that (a) are they only efficient officers who deserve extension of their service time and again or (b) because of their close proximity with the authority , they get the extension of their service out of favour or (c) there is dearth of talented, competent and efficient officers in the Govt. for which extension of service of few officers is viable alternative to run the state machinery.

RTI Application was submitted to the PIO, office of Odisha Legislative Assembly seeking information about details of decision taken to grant extension of age of retirement time and again to Sri Amiya Kumar Sarangi and copy of the file noting. The information provided by the PIO in Feb.2016 is as follows.

A. As per provisions of Rule 7(1) of the Odisha Legislative assembly Secretariat ( Recruitment & Conditions of Service ) Rules, 1983 (as amended upto 2010), the Speaker of Odisha Legislative assembly had given appointment Sri Amiya Kumar sarangi as secretary, OLA from amongst Assembly Cadre with effect from 19.5.2011. He is due to retire on 31st March,2013.

B. In the file noting dated 11.3.13, the Speaker, OLA has pointed out that there is a provision under Rule-8 of the Assembly Secretariat Recruitment Rules ( at-B) that the age of the retirement of the Secretary, OLA may be extended upto 60 years in case of promotee. On the day of appointment of Sri Amiya Kumar Sarangi as Secretary, OLA, he was holding the post of Joint Secretary in the Odisha Legislative Assembly Secretariat. On his appointment as Secretary, OLA , he has been allowed pay attached to the next higher post of Joint Secretary i.e., additional secretary . As a promotee, the age of his retirement can be considered for extension upto 60 years. With this justification, On. 14.3.13, the Speaker extended the age of retirement of Sri Amiya Kumar Sarangi upto 60 years i.e., till 31.3.2015.

C. To give another extension of service to Sri Amiya Kumar Sarangi, Rule -8 of the Odisha Legislative Assembly Secretariat ( Recruitment & Conditions of service ) Rules, 1983 was amended as follows;-

provided that the age of retirement of the Secretary may be extended up to 62 years in case of promotee ’

D. In terms of above amended provision, the Speaker granted again the extension of the age of retirement of the present Secretary of OLA up to 62 years i.e., till 31.3.2017.Comments;

a.     This is not  a single and isolated case.  In the office of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation, Sri  Rajesh Sharma , Director, HRD was granted extension of his contractual service twice, though he does not deserve to continue  in this post.  Surprisingly,  though this post is contractual, the State Govt. did not make any advertisement for new appointment when  the tenure of Sri Sharama is over. Rather he  was  reappointed  for further period of 2 years and 2 months w.e.f. 23.5.14 to 31.7.2016.  It has also come  to my notice that  the Department of Energy  and  Department  of Public  Enterprise  have moved the file to extend his service  again for another 2 years without any advertisement. In every Dept., there is either extension of service of the officers granted or given reappointment as consultant.  Favouratism has become the major factor for granting extension of service to the officers, though   it is noted  by the authority that the extension is   granted  on ground of outstanding  talent.