CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has fixed January 27 to consider the issue of alleged inaction of the government against members of the Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) Association and Orissa Revenue Employees Sangha (ORES), who had gone on strike in violation of service conduct rules.
The issue has been raised through a PIL seeking strict enforcement of the Orissa Government Servants’ Conduct Rules, 1959, which expressly bars government employees from participating in any form of strike. The petition urged the court to direct the government to initiate disciplinary measures, including wage cuts, suspension or dismissal, against officials who abstained from work. Pratap Chandra Sahoo, a Cuttack resident represented by Advocate Anup Kumar Mohapatra filed the petition.
Acting on it, the court had issued notice to the state government on December 9, seeking responses and fixing December 23 for hearing on the PIL. But when the matter came up on the assigned date, additional government advocate Debashis Tripathy sought more time. “As requested, two weeks’ time is granted to file counter affidavit. Rejoinder, if any, be filed within one week thereafter. List this matter on January 27, 2026,” the two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman said in the order.
According to the petition, the controversy began after OAS officer Ratnakar Sahoo was assaulted inside the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation office on June 30 last year. Police arrested corporator Jeevan Rout and two associates soon after the incident. The OAS Association, however, accused another corporator Jagannath Pradhan of being the mastermind and demanded his arrest. In protest, OAS officers across more than 20 districts went on mass leave, paralysing administrative work for two days.
The petition claimed that despite the protest constituting a clear breach of service conduct norms, the state government failed to take any action. The alleged inaction emboldened the ORES, which launched a week-long strike from August 11 last year over a 10-point charter of demands, including pay revision and health insurance.
Terming the strikes a violation of the rule of law, the petitioner sought directions to ensure strict action against officials who participated in the protests. Sahoo’s petition stressed that Section 8 of the Orissa Government Servants’ Conduct Rules, 1959, prohibits any strike by state government employees. It also referred to the Centre’s 1957 amendment to the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1955, which explicitly bars strikes and protests linked to service conditions.