Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has relaxed its mandatory electric vehicle (EV) hiring policy, allowing administrative departments to hire petrol and diesel vehicles in cases where open tenders for EVs fail to attract responsive bids.
In an Office Memorandum issued by the Finance Department, the state government cited operational difficulties faced by various departments, including non-receipt of bids for EVs, as the reason for the relaxation. The earlier order of June 4, 2026, had made hiring of EVs mandatory from June 1, 2026, to reduce fuel expenditure amid the West Asia crisis.
Under the new guidelines, departments can hire Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles only if they have first floated an open tender for EVs and received no responsive bids. They must submit documentary evidence of the failed tender to their administrative department. Where the hiring is to replace a condemned or scrapped vehicle, the administrative department itself can grant the relaxation. For new offices or posts, or hiring without scrapping an existing vehicle, prior concurrence of the Finance Department will be required with proper justification.
The memorandum also directs that individual offices will now conduct vehicle hiring through their own open tenders with prior approval of the competent authority, instead of routing the process through the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA).
Vehicles currently deployed by OREDA will continue till the expiry of their contracts, after which OREDA will completely withdraw from vehicle hiring and provisioning for other departments and organisations.
The order has come into effect immediately.
