Bhubaneswar: Following their elevation from the Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), 14 senior Odisha Cadre officers have officially been allocated key secretarial responsibilities across various state departments.
The transition process began on September 3, when the central government’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued a notification confirming the officers’ promotion against state civil service vacancies determined for the 2025 Select List. The inductees were formally appointed to the IAS cadre following approval from President Droupadi Murmu.
On September 18, 2026, the General Administration & Public Grievance Department of the Odisha Government issued official posting orders signed by Additional Secretary Debasish Singh, assigning the newly-elevated IAS officers to strategic administrative roles:
Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department: Surya Narayan Dash, Soudamini Sethi, and Subhra Mohanty, all previously serving as Special Secretaries, have been appointed as Joint Secretaries in the same department.
Forest, Environment & Climate Change Department: Jyotirmayee Pradhan and Babita Mohanty have transitioned from Special Secretaries to Joint Secretaries.
Labour & ESI Department: Madhumita Nayak has taken charge as Joint Secretary while retaining her additional responsibilities as Director, ESI, Bhubaneswar.
Industries & Home Departments: Jyoti Ranjan Mishra moves to Joint Secretary in Industries, while Himanshu Sekhar Behera steps in as Joint Secretary for the Home Department.
Planning & Convergence and Rural Development: Anuj Kumar Das Pattanaik has been posted as Joint Secretary in Planning & Convergence, and Sanghamitra Satapathy has been named Joint Secretary in Rural Development.
Several newly-elevated officers, including Sumita Sarkar (Additional Commissioner, Settlement & Consolidation, Cuttack), Balamukunda Bhuyan (Director, Elementary Education), Surendra Kumar Panda (Chief General Manager, IDCO), and Madhumita Nayak (Additional Commissioner, Keonjhar), have been instructed to continue in their current postings.
The elevation brings experienced state civil servants into the IAS cadre, expanding the pool of officers available for senior administrative responsibilities across Odisha.
In a related development, the state government has also granted grade promotions on an ad-hoc basis under Level-12 of the Pay Matrix (as per ORSP Rules, 2017) to 14 other OAS officers. A separate notification issued by Ghasiram Murmu, Special Secretary, General Administration & Public Grievance Department, lists the officers as Smita Champati Ray, Priyadarshini Mallick, Elora Saha, Mamata Barik, Jayashree Behera, Madhumita Sahoo, Chandrasekhar Mallick, Lalat Kumar Nayak, Kanti Ranjan Behera, Arun Kumar Mallick, Ramesh Chandra Sethi, Nishikanta Behera, Nabakrushna Behera and Ramesh Chandra Jena.
