Bhubaneswar: In view of 2024 general elections, the Odisha government has appointed senior IAS officer Dr N Thirumala Naik as Additional Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
According to the notification issued by the Public Administration Department, the 2009-batch officer, who is currently serving as State Labour Commissioner and Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) Director, has been posted as Additional CEO with same privileges and responsibilities as Additional Secretary in the IAS cadre.
He will continue as OLM Director.
Anupam Shah, the 2012-batch IAS officer serving as project director, Odisha School Education Programme Authority, will replace Naik as Labour Commissioner. Shah will also continue in his existing post and as member secretary of the ‘Mo School’ programme, the notification said.
It further said that the state government has informed National Election Commission principal secretary Rahul Sharma about the appointment.
Currently, Nikunja Bihari Dhal is the CEO of Odisha with two other senior OAS officers, Satrughna Kar and Mihir Prasad Mohanty, as Additional CEOs. OAS officers Pramod Kumar Sahu is posted as joint CEO and Lakshmiprasad Sahu and Padmaja Das as deputy CEOs.