mumbai in an unusual move insurance regulator insurance regulatory development authority irda has intervened in the dispute between life insurance corporation lic and the development officers union the regulator has asked lic to reply to a complaint lodged with them by development officers which among other things objects to a proposal by lic to recruit direct agents one of the grouses of the union is that lic is getting senior agents to recruit agents although this is a new innovation by lic it is common in the private sector and among multinational companies several private companies have schemes where agents are used to recruiting new agents and are compensated for such recruitment sources said that lic had sought legal opinion before launching its chief life advisor scheme to ensure that it was compliant with all insurance laws and guidelines and has received the green light to go ahead lic which is the largest insurance company in the region has been hit hard by a stir by development officers a significant section of the development officers is opposed to the increased dependence on unitlinked insurance plans on the grounds that these products are volatile largely because of the stir lic has seen its new business shrink by 12 during the current year at a time when the industry has grown 14 the industry growth was in fact dragged down by lic as private players grew 55lic feels one reason why its growth is hampered is that it has not recruited as many agents as private firms last year to make up for this lic is looking at recruiting three lakh agents this year of this one lakh agents are expected to be recruited through the chief life advisor route the clia scheme is also expected to provide senior agents with a career path some years ago lic had proposed deploying some employees at selling insurance however this proposal was put on the back burner as it was not cleared by irda