Bhubaneswar, June 29: Development commissioner and finance secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra was today appointed the new chief secretary of the state.
The 1979 batch IAS officer will be the 40th chief secretary of the state. He replaced Bijay Patnaik, who will retire tomorrow. Today was Patnaik’s last working day. The outgoing chief secretary will head the State Staff Selection Commission following his retirement.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik also effected a minor rejig in the senior bureaucracy. Injeti Srinivas has been appointed as the new development commissioner, but he will continue to keep the housing and urban development department as his additional charge.Senior IAS officers Srinivas, Taradatt, Upendra Nath Behera, Aditya Prasad Padhi (all-1983 batch) have been promoted to the rank of chief secretary. But, Prafulla Chandra Mishra (1982 batch) was denied a promotion as vigilance is yet to submit a final report on the corruption charges brought against him during his the tenure as the chairman of the Odisha State Beverages Corporation.
The principal secretary to the chief minister Aditya Prasad Padhi will now work as the additional chief secretary to Naveen.
Home secretary U.N. Behera will head the finance department along with his present assignment. Revenue secretary Taradatt has been elevated to the rank of additional chief secretary and appointed as the chief administrator of KBK. Chief administrator of KBK P.R. Saha has been appointed as the member of the Board of Revenue.
Secretary tourism and culture Ashok Tripathy has been transferred as director-general of the Gopabandhu Academy of Administration. While SC and ST secretary Santosh Sarangi will look after the culture department, excise secretary Sudarshanpal Thakur will manage the tourism department.
Sources said a chain of transfer was likely to be effected after the new chief secretary assumes charge. However, on the last working day, the outgoing chief secretary Patnaik went through his work in routine manner. He came to office at 10.45am despite ill health and remained in the office till 1.30pm and left for lunch.
