Odisha Govt Issues Guidelines for Appointment of Private Secretaries, OSDs

Bhubaneswar: The General Administration Department on Monday issued new guidelines for the appointment of private secretaries and officers on special duty (OSD) for ministers.

According to these guidelines, ministers have the discretion to select serving officers for these posts, subject to certain eligibility criteria.

Eligibility Criteria

For the position of private secretary to ministers, only officers in the rank of additional secretary or joint secretary are eligible for appointment. Similarly, officers in the rank of joint secretary or deputy secretary can be appointed as OSDs, provided they are at least one rank lower than the private secretary of the respective minister.

An important condition is that any officer who has held the position of private secretary or OSD in the last five years will not be eligible for reappointment. A minimum gap of five years between their previous and current service in these roles is required.

As per the memorandum issued by the General Administration Department, appointments must ensure that no disciplinary actions under Rule 15 or Rule 16 of the OCS (CC&A) Rules, 1962 are pending against the officer. Additionally, no vigilance or criminal cases should be registered or pending against the individual.

“No adverse remarks must have been recorded against him/her in his/her CCR/PAR. He/she must have been rated ‘Very Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ for at least 36 months in the preceding 60 months of CCR/PAR,” the memorandum stated.

Ratings marked as “NRC” within the last 60 months will not be considered for assessment. In such cases, performance evaluations from an earlier period will be used for assessment.