Bhubaneswar: The state government on Friday appointed Senior Advocate at Orissa High Court Pitambar Acharya as the Advocate General of Odisha.
A notification issued by the Law Department stated: “In pursuance of Clause (1) of the Article 165 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Odisha is pleased to appoint Pitambar Acharya, Senior Advocate, High Court of Orissa to be the Advocate General of the State of Odisha with immediate effect.”
An Advocate General is the legal advisor to the state government. As the highest law officer of the state, he is responsible to advice the state government on the legal matters that the Governor refers to him.
The position was lying vacant after Ashok Kumar Parija resigned on June 6 after the fall of BJD government in the state. Government advocate Jyoti Prakash Pattnaik was officiating as the in-charge Advocate General on orders of the Law department.
Acharya was Odisha BJP’s vice-president and spokesperson. He had unsuccessfully contested against Naveen Patnaik from Hinjli assembly constituency in 2019. Acharya has been in politics since his student days and was the president of the students’ union in BJB College in the 90s.
An LLB graduate from University Law College, Utkal University, Acharya also holds a Masters degree in Political Science. His professional journey started as a journalist switching to practising law within two years.
Acharya has had a long and successful stint as an advocate at the Orissa High Court for over three decades.
He was the senior standing counsel of the State Election Commission, Odisha Legislative Assembly. Besides, and central government and Odisha Tourism Development Corporation. He was also the legal retainer of Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology and Odisha Mining Corporation Limited.
He was also the counsel for former state BJP president Samir Mohanty, who had filed the PIL before the Orissa HC seeking reopening of the Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath Temple.
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