Bhubaneswar If a government employee passes away while in service, one of their family members will now be eligible for compassionate appointment. The Cabinet has decided to continue this practice as per previous rules. A formal notification has been issued on Friday by the Department of General Administration and Public Grievance.
As per existing provisions, if a government employee dies in service, the state government, under the Odisha Civil Service (Rehabilitation Assistance) Rules, 1990, used to provide a Group-C or Group-D job to an eligible family member. In 2020, the then government introduced a new policy, replacing the requirement for a disaster certificate with a marking system.
Those whose family members died in service between 1990 and 2020 had filed cases demanding jobs under the new rules, as they had not been covered under the new system.
Now, the Cabinet has decided that all pending applications related to rehabilitation assistance, for deaths that occurred before the 2020 rules came into effect, will be evaluated under the 1990 rules. This means families of employees who passed away before 2020 will get appointments as per the 1990 policy, not the revised one.
Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister and the State Cabinet for this compassionate move in the rehabilitation policy. He said many affected families will be relieved and will bless the government for this decision.