Coop poll tops agenda for Odisha cabinet meet today

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 8:

The Odisha cabinet will meet today to take a decision on 14 issues, the most important of them being a proposal to defer elections to different cooperative bodies in the state by another six months, officials sources revealed.

Elections to cooperative bodies in the state are overdue by 18 months and the matter was in the Supreme Court after passing through the High Court.

Despite the Supreme Court’s directives on the matter since July 30, the state government is yet to conduct elections. The state government is planning to bring an ordinance to defer cooperative elections in the state by six months, said sources.

Moreover, the post of cooperative election commissioner in the state has been lying vacant since the previous incumbent retired IAS officer Rabinarayan Senapati, who was appointed as the first cooperative election commissioner of the state, was made the state election commissioner.

The cabinet is also likely to take a decision on inclusion of  488 and 662 category colleges under the grant in aid scheme.

There is also a proposal to amend rules pertaining to appointments and service in the Health department.

The new bill to prevent encroachment of government land in the state is also likely to come up for consideration of the cabinet, sources said