Odisha’s former Director General of Police Abhay did not even get a day’s off to reflect upon his achievements in his three-decade-long service. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appointed him as the head of the newly created State’s task force for narcotic drugs moments later he left his office.Mr. Abhay is not an exception. Since 2010, except two former heads of State bureaucracy, all Chief Secretaries have landed new jobs soon after their superannuation. While Ajit Kumar Tripathy and A.P. Padhi went on to become the State Election Commissioner shortly after their stint as the CS, Tarun Kanti Mishra was made the Chief Information Commissioner. Former CS Bijay Kumar Pattnaik was with the State Human Rights Commission and the Odisha Staff Selection Commission. No doubt, Mr. Abhay as the former Director General of the Narcotics Control Bureau had a rich experience in tackling drug menace. The 1986-batch officer would chair the task force for the drugs related issues in the State, in the rank and status of CS. His predecessor R.P. Sharma was appointed member of Lokpal after his retirement. Some officers had taken voluntary retirement months before their superannuation to get new jobs. Former Additional Chief Secretary U.N. Behera took over the chairmanship of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission by taking voluntary retirement. Former DGP Satyajit Mohanty became the chairman of the Odisha Public Service Commission in similar fashion. It seems different positions are kept vacant for serving IAS and IPS officers so that they could stretch their active service period for a few more years with sinecures. “We don’t see any difference or remarkable changes in functioning of the institutions where retired bureaucrats are reappointed,” said Sudhir Mohanty, a Right To Information activist who had several run-ins with the bureaucracy. Prasanna Mishra, a former Coal Secretary at the Centre, said, “Lure of post-retirement jobs affects objectivity and neutrality of government employees. Those who are in sensitive positions and assured of post-retirement jobs will show their allegiance to political bosses during their regular service.” “The fundamental principle of bureaucracy is one should be loyal to the system, not to any political dispensation. An avoidable favouritism is now being shown. The post-retirement posts should be made regular and offered to serving officers within the retirement age of 60,” he suggested. “The Naveen government is functioning on the basis of 5Ts (Team work, Technology, Transparency, Transformation and Time limit) principle. The transparency component is, however, missing when these post-retirement appointments are made,” Mr. Mishra pointed out. In the past, there had been huge hue and cry when the officers of the Odisha Administrative Services were re-appointed in different positions after their retirement. Serving officers had alleged that the natural career progression was derailed due to post-retirement recruitments. When senior officers in the bureaucracy were trying to stretch their service period, the teachers in the State-run Utkal University were too not behind. The Utkal University Teachers’ Association (UUTA) recently resolved to continue its struggle to extend the retirement age of university faculty members to 65 years.