OAS officers to be treated as Class-1 at entry level.

The OAS officers will be treated as junior Class-1 at the entry level. A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting when a delegation led by its president Rabi Narayan Nanda called on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat. Chief Minister assured the delegation that their cadre would be restructured within three months.Sources said the association demanded that the Government should hand over at least four Secretaries posts to the OAS (Orissa Administrative Service) cadre. "OAS officers should be posted as Collectors at least in 15 districts," they argued. At present OAS officers are appointed as Collectors in six districts only, while the rest of the districts are managed by IAS officers.

Majority of the OAS officers are of the view that when they play a major role in implementing various welfare schemes of the government, they should be handed over few departments to lead. "We do have the expertise in handling the nitty-gritty of the departments," said a senior OAS officer on the condition of anonymity.Sources said the OAS officers are eyeing for secretary posts of departments like Panchayati Raj, Urban and Revenue.