UFOE Urges Defence Ministry to Publish Gazette Notification Retaining Ordnance Factory Employees as Central Government Staff

The United Forum of Ordnance Employees (UFOE) has strongly urged the Department of Defence Production (DDP) to immediately publish a Gazette Notification confirming that all Ordnance Factory employees—currently on deemed deputation to the seven newly formed Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs)—will continue as Central Government employees till retirement, as assured earlier by the Government and the Ministry of Defence.

Stakeholders’ Meeting on Absorption Package Falls Flat

On 3 December 2025, the first stakeholders’ meeting to discuss proposed absorption packages was held at the corporate office of India Optal Limited (IOL) in Dehradun. However, the meeting saw zero participation from Federations and Associations. Chairs reserved for employee bodies remained vacant, as the UFOE and other associations have consistently refused to discuss absorption into DPSUs.

UFOE has reiterated that there are “no takers” for the absorption package framed by the seven DPSUs, as nearly 60,000 Defence Civilian Employees have unanimously decided not to forfeit their Central Government status, which they earned through rigorous recruitment under Article 309 of the Constitution.

Employees Stand Firm: ‘We Will Not Join DPSUs’

Despite corporatization on October 1, 2021—part of the Modi Government’s 100-day agenda—the employees insist they were never informed during recruitment that they could be moved to a PSU. Over the past four years, DPSUs and DDP have repeatedly stated that attractive HR policies and packages would be offered, but federations maintain that employees will “not risk their job security, pension, and service conditions” by resigning from Government service.

All major Federations and Associations, despite different affiliations, are united under the United Forum of Ordnance Employees (UFOE) in demanding that the Government retain their Central Government employee status permanently.

Speaking to www.indianpsu.com AIDEF General Secretary and UFOE Member C. Srikumar criticized the DDP for “unnecessarily prolonging” the matter for almost 5 years. He urged the Raksha Mantri to direct the DDP Officials to prepare a comprehensive note for the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) headed by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singhji for publishing a notification for retaining the service status of the Defence Civilian Employees of Ordnance Factories as Central Government Employees till their retirement from service in the 7 DPSUs. The EGOM has full Cabinet authority to take decision related to post Corporatization developments, yet DDP has kept uninformed the EGOM about all these developments. He emphasized that OF Employees are an asset to the national Defence Preparedness and cannot be kept in prolonged uncertainty.

Srikumar added that the Government had previously taken a similar step when employees of All India Radio and Doordarshan were retained as Government staff even after creation of the Prasar Bharati Corporation.

UFOE Letter to Secretary (Defence Production) is given below for the benefit of the viewers of www.indianpsu.com –