Bhubaneswar: The Mohan Majhi government has notified a comprehensive new transfer policy for officers in the Odisha Engineering Service (OES) and Odisha Diploma Engineers’ Service (ODES) cadres under the Works Department, aiming to enhance transparency, fairness, efficiency, and accountability in postings while minimising discretionary decisions.
A central element of the policy is the establishment of dedicated Engineering Establishment Committees (EECs) to oversee the transfer process in a structured manner. For senior officers — including Chief Engineers, Additional Chief Engineers, Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers, and Assistant Executive Engineers — an EEC headed by the Principal Secretary of the Works Department will make recommendations to the government. The committee includes Engineers-in-Chief from the Roads, Rural Development, and National Highways wings as members.
A separate EEC, constituted at the Engineer-in-Chief (Civil-cum-Roads) level and chaired by the Engineer-in-Chief with Chief Engineers of various wings as members, will handle transfers and postings for Assistant Engineers and Junior Engineers.
Under the new guidelines, engineers will be transferred after completing a three-year tenure at a particular station or post. No officer will be permitted to serve in a single revenue district for more than six years. To prevent potential conflicts of interest, Superintending Engineers and Executive Engineers cannot be posted in their home districts, while Assistant Engineers and Junior Engineers from the ODES cadre are barred from their home sub-divisions.
Engineers with less than one year of service left before retirement are generally exempt from transfers. Deputations to other organisations require prior departmental approval and are typically limited to five years, with possible extension by up to two years in exceptional cases.
The policy, which has come into immediate effect, is part of a broader administrative push led by Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh to institutionalise merit-based decisions, reduce patronage, and optimise engineering manpower across the state.
Officials described the move as a step toward insulating public works administration from localised influences and ensuring that deployments prioritise public interest and project efficiency.
