Bhubaneswar: In a far reaching move, the Odisha Cabinet on Friday has decided to repeal the Odisha Civil Services (Rehabilitation Assistance) Rules 1990 and frame Odisha Civil Services (Rehabilitation Assistance) Rules 2020.
The Cabinet while has vetted raising of the 10 per cent quota for compassionate appointments to 50 per cent but at the same time it decided that under the new rules all appointments will be made under Group D posts.
What seems significant here is the tweak-ins effected by the State Government today may face judicial scrutiny in future.
As per experts, while raising the cap to 50 per cent may face challenge in the court of law for violation of the Constitution; the limiting of all compassionate appointments to the group D -level, even if the government servant who died in harness had been serving at the level of Group A, B, C or D, may fail judicial scrutiny.
Because, the country's Apex court in its judgement on Umesh kumar Nagpal Vs State of Haryana & Others in 1994 had very clearly directed that such compassionate appointments should be made at the level of Group -C and Group - D.
Moreover, the Department of Personnel, Government of India, didn't find the request of the Joint Consultative Machinery, National Council Staff side's request to remove the 5 per cent cap (applicable in Central government jobs) as legally feasible.
The reason it said is country's courts may declare it unconstitutional finding it as violative of Article 14 (equal before law and equal protection of laws) and 16 (equality in matters of public employment) of the Constitution. In the given context, the raising of the cap to 50 per cent may invite legal trouble, though the State Cabinet very cleverly put the cap at 50 per cent of total vacancies at Group-D level.
It needs mentioning that Centre and almost all the States are currently making compassionate appointments at the level of Group C and D, irrespective of the deceased government servant's cadre level.
Given the prevailing backdrop of compassionate appointments rules in the country, the Odisha Cabinet's decision today with regard to the proposed repeal of the Odisha Civil Services (Rehabilitation Assistance) 1990 sounds controversial.
Another significant cabinet decision today has been the amendment to Orissa Civil Services (Criteria for Promotion) Amendment Rules, 2003. According to Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, as per the 2003 rules, the number of persons to be included in the list prepared under sub-rule (1) shall be 1.25 times the number of vacancies anticipated in the promotional Service / Post pertaining to that year.
But the said sub-rule has been done away with in the State cabinet meet today. Detailing the reason, CS Asit Tripathy said we decided to remove the sub-rule as the procedure now has been post-based reservation, not vacancy based. Since no vacancies are to be filled up in future, the list prepared shall be 1-time only, the CS added.
Along with the two proposals, the State cabinet today held deliberations on 9 proposals, including giving nod to two rural piped water projects in Sundergarh at an estimated cost of Rs 344 crore.
The State Cabinet has also approved some incentives for STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) in order to give a boost to the employment in the State. The State government will provide 3 acre of premium land free of cost to STPIs, a cabinet release said.
Also, the State Cabinet has today cleared the long-term ore-linkage policy for industries through Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). The State cabinet has also given its nod to the Action-taken report (ATR) on Fifth State Finance Commission. The ATR will now be tabled in the State Assembly, informed the CS.