BHUBANESWAR: Maintaining the tradition of rehabilitating favourite bureaucrats before their retirements, the State Government on Wednesday appointed Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi as the next State Election Commissioner (SEC).
The recommendation of Padhi’s name for the constitutional post has been approved by Governor Ganeshi Lal.“On the directive of the Governor, the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department has issued a notification appointing me as the State Election Commissioner. I have applied for my voluntary retirement with a request to the State Government to waive the mandatory notice period of 90 days and permit me to retire from service on August 19,” Padhi told reporters.
The Chief Secretary said he will take charge of the SEC on August 19 if his request to the State Government is accepted. One of the longest-serving chief secretaries, Padhi, a 1983 batch IAS officer, is due to retire in February 2020. He took over as Chief Secretary from Gokul Pati in November 2015.
The approval of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension for taking voluntary retirement will be a mere formality.
Padhi will be the seventh Election Commissioner of the State and he will replace incumbent SEC Naba Kumar Nayak. The tenure of Nayak was over in March 2019. Since the post will not be vacant as per constitutional provisions, Nayak will continue till the appointment of the next election commissioner.
Since the formation of the State Election Commission in 1994, five Election Commissioners have been appointed by Naveen Patnaik Government. Debendra Misra was the first to join the high office followed by Abhay Rath, Sanjeeb Hota, Ajit Tripathy, R N Senapati and N K Nayak. Padhi, who had been handling the CM’s office since 2010 before his appointment as Chief Secretary in 2015, is said to be one of the few bureaucrats who enjoy Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s absolute confidence. The soft-spoken bureaucrat, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Science, also holds an MBA from Yale University.
All eyes are now on who is going to be the next Chief Secretary. Speculations are rife that Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy is next in the line to occupy the top administrative post.
If the State Government picks up Tripathy, an officer of 1986 batch, he will supersede five IAS officers, including Injeti Srinivas of 1983 batch and current Union Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The other IAS officers who are senior to Tripathy include Union Secretary, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Arun Kumar Panda (1984 batch), Union Water Resources Secretary Upendra Prasad Singh (1985 batch), Union Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Surendra Nath Tripathy (1985 batch) and Agriculture Production Commissioner Gagan Kumar Dhal.