Bhubaneswar, Nov. 28: Aditya Prasad Padhi, a 1983-batch IAS officer, will be the new chief secretary of Odisha. Padhi will replace Gokul Chandra Pati, who is retiring on November 30.

At present, Pandhi is the additional chief secretary to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and has been in the Chief Minister's Office since 2010. His current post will be taken over by his batch mate Upendra Nath Behera, who, too, was in the race for the coveted post.

R. Balakrishnan, a 1984-batch IAS officer, will become the new development commissioner and additional chief secretary (finance), and Vishal Dev will hold additional charge of the finance department as special secretary, an official communique to this effect was made today by the Odisha government.

Shortly after the announcement, Padhi said: "My priority will be drought, rural housing, electrification, health, education and employment."

Both Padhi and Behera enjoy the confidence of the chief minister. Padhi is senior to Behera in the same IAS batch. Besides, what weighed in favour of Padhi are - he has nearly five years of service left against Behera's two years and also his unblemished stint in the Chief Minister's Office. While Padhi will retire in February 2020, Behera is due to retire in July 2017.

Padhi had joined the office as principal secretary to the chief minister and later became the additional chief secretary. He is expected to be at the helm of Odisha's bureaucracy when the state goes to general polls in 2019.