BHUBANESWAR: Odisha chief secretary Manoj Ahuja is set for a longer tenure with the appointments committee of the cabinet on Friday extending his service period for one year from January 1, 2025. Ahuja was due to retire on December 31.
The extension of the chief secretary’s service period has come ahead of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be hosted in Bhubaneswar from January 8 to 10, and Utkarsh Odisha: Make-in-Odisha conclave from January 28-29. Both are two most important events in the 2025 calendar of the BJP government in the state.
The 1990-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer was appointed as the chief secretary on June 29, 2024. He took the charge from Pradeep Kumar Jena on July 1.
Prior to his appointment as the 46th chief secretary of Odisha, Ahuja was on central deputation. He was repatriated to the parent cadre on the request of the state government.
A Haryana native, Ahuja is the first officer from outside Odisha to serve as the chief secretary of the state after a gap of nearly 39 years. The last non-Odia chief secretary was Gian Chand, who held the position from April 1983 to December 1985.