Officer on Special Duty (abbreviated as OSD), or Special Duties Officer, is an officer level in the civil services in Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and the Indian subcontinent.
Brunei Darussalam
Special Duties Officer (Pegawai Tugas-Tugas Khas) is an officer level of
Brunei Darussalam's Civil Service which working under each ministry in Brunei. Brunei's Special Duties Officers can be differentiated by their position levels;
*Minister (Menteri)
**Deputy Minister (Timbalan Menteri)
*Permanent Secretary (Setiausaha Tetap)
**Grade A, B and C
*Deputy Permanent Secretary (Timbalan Setiausaha Tetap)
*Senior Special Duties Officer (Pengarah, Timbalan Pengarah)
**Superscale Special
**Superscale A, B and C
*Senior Special Duties Officer (Pegawai Tugas-Tugas Khas Kanan, Pegawai Kanan)
**Group 1, 2 and 3 (Bahagian 1, 2 and 3)
*Special Duties Officer (Pegawai Tugas-Tugas Khas)
** Grade 1 and Grade 2 (Tingkat 1 and Tingkat 2)
India
An officer on Special Duty is an officer in the
Indian civil service
The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947.
Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...
of the status between a secretary and an undersecretary in the
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
.
The practice dates back to the
British colonial rule in India, and was explained to the Central Legislative Assembly by a government spokesman in 1931 as follows:
"There are two principal criteria in appointing an OSD in the civil services -
# When an officer by his appointment brings far greater economic benefit to the government than that spent in his appointment
# When there is an obligation on the government to take a certain action for the benefit of the larger good"
It is also sometimes used as a training post for a future higher level posting. For example, when
Raghuram Rajan
Raghuram Govind Rajan (born 3 February 1963) is an Indian economist and the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Quote: "I am an Indian citizen. I have always b ...
served as OSD in Union Finance Ministry before beginning the appointment for RBI Governor and also when S. Ranganathan was appointed the Comptroller and Auditor General, he was first appointed as an OSD to understudy the outgoing CAG A.K. Roy and subsequently given charge.
Pakistan and Bangladesh
It refers to a
government officer
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...
without duties in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.
They may be the officers awaiting posting orders or the
demoted officers. These officers report to the secretariat where they do nothing but sign their attendance. It implies that the government does not have any suitable post for the officer or their services are no more required (when demoted). These officers are paid full salaries. It is considered to be a stigma when an officer is designated as the OSD.
The practice finds its origin in the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
when to be an officer on special duty was the
status of honour.
References
{{reflist
Civil Services of India
Indian government officials
Pakistani government officials
Civil service of Pakistan
Civil service in Bangladesh
Bangladeshi civil servants