Closes tonight
The online application closes at 11.59 p.m. on 1 October 2026. If you are reading this on the 1st and you are not already registered on the NATS portal, start there first — NATS registration is a precondition and it is not instant. If you are reading this later, the window has shut; keep the page for the next cycle, which OPTCL runs annually.
OPTCL — the Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited — has advertised 100 apprentice seats for 2026-27. Exactly one of them is for Law.
One seat is a thin prospect, and this post would not be worth your time if the eligibility were ordinary. It is not. Three clauses in the notice decide who may apply, and two of them are left out of most listings:
- You must have passed in Academic Year 2023-24, 2024-25 or 2025-26, and the gap to joining must not exceed three years. Graduate earlier than that and you are out.
- You must not have completed an apprenticeship under the Apprentices Act, 1961, or have a year or more of job experience. A year in a chamber or a firm appears to close the door.
- You must be an Indian national belonging to the State of Odisha.
Read together, those three mean this is aimed squarely at a fresh LL.B. from Odisha who has not yet started working. If that is you, the field is a good deal narrower than “one seat” suggests.
At a glance
| Organisation | Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL), a Government of Odisha undertaking |
| Advertisement | No. OPTCL-14013/9/2026-T AND D — Part (1) — 14389, dated 29 August 2026 |
| Engagement | Apprenticeship under the Apprentices Act, 1961 — not employment |
| Total seats | 100, across Degree Engineering, Degree Non-Engineering, Diploma and ITI |
| Law seats | 1 (Degree Non-Engineering) |
| Qualification for Law | “LLM / LLB or equivalent” |
| Stipend | ₹12,300 a month for Degree apprentices — 50% from OPTCL, 50% from BOPT by direct benefit transfer |
| Duration | One year (12 months) |
| Age | Not less than 18 years as on 1 August 2026. No maximum age is prescribed. |
| Fee | No application fee is prescribed in the advertisement |
| Applications open | 12.00 a.m., 2 September 2026 |
| Applications close | 11.59 p.m., 1 October 2026 |
| Where | Units and offices of OPTCL across Odisha |
Read the advertisement
The Law seat — the eligibility clauses in full
These are the words of the advertisement. Read them before you fill anything in.
| Requirement | What the notice says |
|---|---|
| Qualification | “LLM / LLB or equivalent”. The slash is disjunctive — an LL.B. qualifies. No class, percentage, division or CGPA is prescribed. Listings that describe this as a “Master’s-level qualification” are adding a requirement the notice does not contain. |
| Year of passing | “The gap between the date of joining in Apprenticeship Training and passing date of essential qualifying examination for Apprentices should not be more than 3 years and passed during Academic Year 2023-24, 2024-25 & 2025-26.” Both limbs must be satisfied. |
| Prior apprenticeship or experience | “Candidates who have completed Apprenticeship training as per Apprentices Act 1961 or job experience for a period of one year or more shall not be eligible to apply.” |
| Domicile | “Indian Nationals belonging to the state of Odisha are only eligible to apply.” The notice does not say what proof of belonging is required. |
| Age | “Candidate should not be less than eighteen years of age as on 01.08.2026.” There is no upper age limit and no relaxation clause anywhere in the document — the real age constraint is the academic-year window above. |
| Bank account | An Aadhaar-seeded bank account is needed, because half the stipend comes by direct benefit transfer. Educational, personal, bank and Aadhaar details must all be entered in the profile. |
All 100 seats
| Category | Discipline | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| Degree Engineering | Electrical | 32 |
| Information Technology | 1 | |
| Telecom | 1 | |
| Degree Non-Engineering | Human Resources | 4 |
| Finance | 2 | |
| Law | 1 | |
| Diploma (Technician) | Electrical | 20 |
| Telecom | 1 | |
| Civil | 2 | |
| ITI Trade | Electrician | 33 |
| Electronic Mechanic | 3 | |
| Total | 100 | |
On reservation the advertisement says one sentence and no more: “The apprentice seats will be filled as per the reservation rules applicable.” There is no category-wise roster in the document — the words SC, ST, SEBC, OBC, EWS and PwBD do not appear in it at all. Any listing that tells you to look for a category break-up in the notification is sending you after something that is not there.
Stipend
| Level | Per month | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Degree — Engineering and Non-Engineering, including Law | ₹12,300 | 50% OPTCL, 50% BOPT through DBT |
| Diploma (Technician) | ₹10,900 | 50% OPTCL, 50% BOPT through DBT |
| ITI Trade | ₹9,600 | The notice names only the three categories above in the cost-sharing sentence; the ITI split is not stated |
No accommodation is provided and there is no allowance in lieu of it. No travelling allowance is paid for appearing at any stage of selection.
How the one seat will be filled
The advertisement says: “Selection will be made on the basis of Academic merit / Written Test / interview as required.”
That is the whole of it. There is no formula, no weighting, and no statement of which disciplines face a written test and which an interview. For a single Law seat the practical effect is that OPTCL keeps full discretion over method — which is worth knowing, because it means your marks sheet may well be the only thing that is looked at. Any listing that prints a selection formula has invented it.
Applying — and the step people miss
The application is not a single form. Registration on the NATS portal comes first, and the OPTCL application cannot be completed without the registration number it generates.
- Register on NATS at nats.education.gov.in — this is the portal for Degree and Diploma apprentices, which includes the Law seat. (ITI candidates register on NAPS at apprenticeshipindia.gov.in instead.) Complete the profile: educational details, personal details, bank account and Aadhaar.
- Make sure your bank account is seeded with Aadhaar, or the DBT half of the stipend will not reach you.
- Note the registration number the portal generates.
- Go to optcl.co.in → HRD Section → Training & Development → Advertisement for Engagement of Apprentices 2026 → Apply Online, and complete the OPTCL application.
- Submit before 11.59 p.m. on 1 October 2026.
If something goes wrong tonight, the advertisement prints a helpdesk: apprentice@optcl.co.in, telephone 9438908502.
What this is, and what it is not
Be clear-eyed about it. The advertisement itself says so:
“It shall not be obligatory in the part of OPTCL to offer employment to any apprentice who has completed his / her apprenticeship, nor can an apprentice claim right for employment on the ground of completion of Apprenticeship Training.”
So: twelve months, ₹12,300 a month, inside the legal function of a State transmission utility, and no claim to anything at the end of it. Whether that is worth a year depends entirely on what else you have. For a fresh LL.B. from Odisha with no offer in hand, a year of in-house exposure to a public utility — contracts, land and right-of-way, regulatory filings before the State commission, service matters — is a real credential, and the stipend is better than most first-year chamber arrangements. For someone with a seat in a good chamber, it is not.
One further consequence worth noticing: because the notice bars anyone who has already completed an apprenticeship under the Act, taking this seat uses up that eligibility. If you are weighing it against another statutory apprenticeship you would rather have, choose carefully.
Where the listings go wrong
| Point | What is being reported | What the advertisement says |
|---|---|---|
| Date of the advertisement | “30 September 2026” | 29 August 2026. The 30 September figure is a listing’s own posting date. It also makes nonsense of the application window, which opened on 2 September |
| Advertisement number | Omitted | OPTCL-14013/9/2026-T AND D — Part (1) — 14389 |
| Year of passing | Omitted by several listings | A hard bar: Academic Year 2023-24, 2024-25 or 2025-26, with a gap of not more than three years |
| Prior apprenticeship or a year’s experience | Omitted by several listings | A disqualification, in terms |
| Law qualification | “LLM, LLB or equivalent with Master’s-level qualification” | “LLM / LLB or equivalent”. There is no Master’s-level requirement |
| Category-wise reservation | “See the notification PDF for the category-wise break-up” | There is no break-up in the PDF — only the single sentence quoted above |
Disclaimer: This post is prepared for information. It is not legal or career advice and it is not an official communication of OPTCL. The quotations above are taken from the advertisement dated 29 August 2026 as published on optcl.co.in. The advertisement alone is authoritative. The closing date stated in it is 11.59 p.m. on 1 October 2026; check the OPTCL Training & Development page for any corrigendum or extension before relying on that, and verify every requirement — eligibility, year of passing, domicile and the bar on prior apprenticeship or experience — against the document itself.
Sources: the advertisement of the Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited, No. OPTCL-14013/9/2026-T AND D — Part (1) — 14389 dated 29 August 2026, published at optcl.co.in under HRD Section → Training & Development; and the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme portal at nats.education.gov.in.
