Bhubaneswar: The Odisha cabinet has approved creation of one post of Principal Secretary for engagement of Manoj Kumar Mishra on contractual basis after acceptance of his resignation from Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) cadre by the Ministry of Railways, a notification issued by GA &PA department said on Friday.
Notably, Mishra was appointed as principal secretary of the Electronics and Information Technology department on a contractual basis in December last year a day after the IRTS officer’s resignation was accepted by the Ministry of Railways.
A 2000-batch officer, Mishra was on central deputation to the state and served as secretary of the same department.
In January, the BJP had demanded cancellation of his appointment and sought explanation on an outsider being picked up for an IAS-cadre post while alleging that it violated Articles 14 and 16 and Odisha government rules of business made under Article 166 of the Constitution of India.
Terming the engagement of Mishra as illegal and unconstitutional, the saffron party had questioned as why the recruitment was not made through open advertisement and in a transparent manner.
