Defence ministry sacks 13 senior ordnance factory officers

Ministry sources say officers will be entitled to pensions, calculated on the years they have served

On Thursday, unprecedentedly, the defence ministry has sacked 13 officers of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for non-performance.

This is a revolutionary move in a ministry where decision-making is glacial and bureaucrats recount, only half humorously: “Officers get sacked for taking controversial decisions; no officer has ever been sacked for not taking a decision at all.”

The dismissed officers are from the Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) cadre, an organised Group 'A' Central Service. Action has been taken against them under Fundamental Rule 56(j) and Rule 48(1)(b) of Central Civil Service (Pension) Rules, 1972, which provides for prematurely retiring officers whose overall