Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday appointed advocate Biraja Shankar Mishra as a member of the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC).
According to the official notification issued by the Law Department, the appointment will take effect on the date Mishra, a native of Keonjhar, assumes office.
The commission had been functioning with only a single member, Chitta Ranjan Mohapatra, after the terms of Chairperson Justice Satrughna Pujahari and member Asim Amitabh Dash ended on February 9, 2026. The resulting vacancies prompted a public interest litigation in the Orissa High Court urging the state government to fill the open positions quickly. Consequently, Justice Pujahari, a former Orissa High Court judge who previously served as chairperson starting February 10, 2023, was reappointed to the post in March.
