Odisha Govt Frames Rules For 10% Quota For Ex-Agniveers In State’s Uniform Services

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Friday framed rules for reserving 10% jobs for ex-Agniveers in the state’s uniform services.

Exercising the powers conferred by Article 309 of the Constitution, Odisha Governor Raghubar Das framed rules for reservation in uniform service and age limit for retired Agniveers of the state, a notification issued by General Administration and Public Grievances (GA&PG) department noted.

“Retired Agniveers means a person who has completed four years of service in the armed forces under the Agniveers Recruitment Scheme of Government of India, while, Retired Soldier means a person as defined in the Retired Soldiers (Employment in State Civil Service and Posts) Regulations, 1985,” the Rules stated.

‘Uniform Service’ refers to police, forest, forestry, fire or any other service as may be declared by the state government from time to time, it stated.

“10% horizontal reservation shall be reserved for retired Agniveers in uniform service of all ‘C’ and ‘D’ category posts of the State filled by direct recruitment. This reservation shall be subject to an additional 10% reservation in addition to the reservation applicable to retired servicemen,” it added.

It may be noted that they must fulfil the minimum qualifications prescribed for the post per the relevant recruitment regulations on the date of issue of the Agniveers Certificate. The above reservation shall be given in addition to the reservation applicable to ex-servicemen.

Relaxation in age limit: The prescribed age limit for retired Agniveers in uniform service of all ‘C’ and ‘D’ category posts of the State filled by direct recruitment of the State shall be raised to 3 years, the Rules noted.

“Notwithstanding anything in the relevant regulations governing the recruitment process and service survey of the Uniform Services, retired Agniveers shall be exempted from the physical fitness test,” the GA&PG department’s notification added.

The state government led by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had approved framing of Odisha Ex-Agniveers (Recruitment to Uniform Services) Rules, 2024, to reserve 10% seats for ex-Agniveers in the uniform service, in September this year.