BHUBANESWAR : The state government has appointed a conservator-ranked IFS officer as chairman of the Odisha Biodiversity Board (OBB), a position traditionally held by an officer of the rank of principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF).
The Biodiversity Board comprises the PCCF and Head of Forest Force (HoFF), PCCF (Wildlife), two secretaries of administrative departments and professors from reputed universities.
The Forest, Environment and Climate Change department, in a notification issued on October 27, placed the chief executive of the Regional Plant Resource Centre (RPRC), Bhubaneswar, in additional charge of chairman of the OBB, alongside his existing responsibilities.
With this notification, the board is now headed by Sudhansu Sekhar Khora, a 2009-batch IFS officer who serves as the chief executive of the RPRC. While the chairman oversees the functioning of the board, the appointment of an officer junior in rank to several of its members has raised questions over the government’s decision.
The OBB is a statutory body established in 2009 under Section 22 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, and functions under the administrative control of the Forest, Environment and Climate Change department.
The board is mandated to implement the provisions of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the Biological Diversity Rules, 2024, the Odisha Biological Diversity Rules, 2012, and other rules and guidelines framed at the national and state levels.
Headed by a chairperson, the board has 11 other members, including the principal secretary of the ST and SC Development department, the commissioner-cum-secretary of the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department, and senior officers of the Forest department. Academicians and researchers are also represented on the board, which is convened by a member secretary.
Forest, Environment and Climate Change minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia could not be reached for his comments.