Cuttack: Odisha high court has directed the director of Institute of Management of Agriculture Extension (IMAE) to decide within three months the representation of a group of contractual assistant technology managers seeking regularisation of their services, while making it clear that appointments made through a disputed recruitment process will remain subject to that decision.Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy passed the order on July 7 while disposing of a batch of writ petitions filed by the assistant technology managers working under the chief district agriculture officer-cum-project director of Agriculture Technology Management Agency, Phulbani, in Kandhamal since 2013.The petitioners had challenged an advertisement issued by Odisha Subordinate Staff Selection Commission on Dec 30, 2025, for the Combined Recruitment Examination-2025.Justice Satapathy ordered that any appointment made in the meantime under the Dec 30, 2025, recruitment advertisement would remain subject to the final decision taken by the director, IMAE, on the petitioners’ representation, before disposing of the batch of petitions.Without examining the merits of the petitioners’ claims, the court granted them liberty to submit a fresh representation before the director, IMAE, within three weeks, enclosing all relevant documents and judicial precedents in support of their case. “If such representation is filed… the Director IMAE shall do well to take a lawful decision on the same within a period of three months,” the court said.Represented by advocate Ramakanta Sarangi, the petitioners argued that the recruitment notification overlooked their long years of service. They sought directions for the state govt to regularise their services by absorbing them as village agricultural workers against 286 such posts covered under the recruitment drive. They also requested protection of their existing engagement until their claim was decided.
