The Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Odisha, has suspended Sub-Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies (SARCS) Durga Prasad Chhuria with immediate effect, citing alleged political affiliation and participation that violate government service rules.
The order, dated 31 August 2026, identifies Chhuria as SARCS in the office of the District Registrar of Cooperative Societies (DRCS), Kandhamal, and attached to the RCS headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
What makes the order politically sensitive is the officer’s family link. Durga Prasad Chhuria is the husband of Snehangini Chhuria, a two-time Biju Janata Dal MLA from Attabira, former minister, and president of Biju Mahila Janata Dal. Election affidavits and public records list him as her spouse. His occupation has been declared as government service.
Snehangini Chhuria represented Attabira in 2014 and 2019. Between 2014 and 2019, she held independent charge of Cooperation, Handloom and Textiles in the Naveen Patnaik government — the same department that has now suspended her husband. She lost Attabira to the BJP in 2024 and finished third as BJD candidate in the November 2025 Nuapada bypoll.
The RCS order says Chhuria “has been allegedly involved in the political activities which violate the provisions contained in Rule-5 of the Odisha Government Servants’ Conduct Rules, 1959.”
Rule 5 is unambiguous. A government servant cannot be a member of a political party, cannot associate with an organisation that takes part in politics, and cannot take part in, subscribe to, or assist any political movement or activity. Voting is allowed. Campaigning, canvassing, or using official influence is not.
The Registrar used clause (a) of Sub-Rule (1) of Rule-12 of the Odisha Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1962, and placed him under suspension “on administrative exigency… pending framing of draft charges.”
During suspension, his headquarters will remain Bhubaneswar under the RCS. He cannot leave without prior permission. He will get subsistence allowance under Rule-90 of the Odisha Service Code.
Suspension is not a finding of guilt. Formal charges have not yet been issued. The officer will have a chance to reply once the draft chargesheet is served.
The department has not made public the specific acts alleged against him — whether attendance at party events, campaign work during the Nuapada bypoll, organisational activity, or something else. Those details, if they exist, will come in the charge memo.
The optics are hard to miss. A serving cooperative official, posted both in a field district and at state headquarters, is the husband of a prominent opposition leader who once headed the Cooperation portfolio. The present BJP government has now invoked political-neutrality rules against him.
Civil service rules exist precisely for this situation. The State is entitled to insist that its officers stay out of party work. The officer is entitled to a fair departmental inquiry. Both can be true at the same time.
Until charges are framed and answered, the official record is limited to this: alleged political involvement, immediate suspension, headquarters fixed at Bhubaneswar, and an inquiry still to begin.
