Odisha: Senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi transferred in major reshuffle

Bhubaneswar, Dec 17 (IANS) Amidst the allegations over his involvement in a high-profile bribery case, senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi has been removed from his position as Principal Secretary to the Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department with additional charges of Odia Language, Literature & Culture Department and the ST&SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department.

As per an official notification, the state government on Tuesday appointed the 1995-batch IAS officer Sethi as the Officer of Special Duty (OSD) of the General Administration & Public Grievance department.

The state government has also declared the post of Officer on Special Duty, GA & PG department equivalent in status and responsibility to the post of Principal Secretary provided in the IAS Cadre of the State.

On the other hand, in 1997 Odisha-cadre IAS officer Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra, on repatriation from Central Deputation, was appointed as principal secretary to the ST&SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department.

Mishra will be in the additional charge of principal secretary to the Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and the Odia Language, Literature & Culture departments.

Sethi’s name surfaced in the high-profile bribery case after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) issued summonses to the senior bureaucrat to appear before it for questioning. Though Sethi has not yet appeared before the central agency, his drivers have already been grilled by the CBI in connection with the bribery case.

The CBI arrested Chanchal Mukherjee, the Group General Manager (GGM) of Bridge and Roof Co. (India) Limited, a Central Government PSU under the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Santosh Moharana, the director of a private company, and middleman Devadutta Mohapatra near a 5-star hotel in Jaydev Vihar area of Bhubaneswar on December 7.

The sleuths also recovered the bribe amount of Rs 10 lakhs from a costly four-wheeler from the spot during the raid.

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