Bhubaneswar: The recent transfer of senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi from Chairman of Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) to OSD, General Administration and Public Grievances department, has raised eyebrows in administrative circles with his alleged differences with a senior colleague coming in for discussion.
Sethi, who also held additional charge of Chief Administrator of KBK (Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput), was shunted to the insignificant post of Officer-on-Special Duty two days after reports of an apparent power struggle between him and Managing Director of OFDC, Prem Kumar Jha, marked by the two countermanding each other’s official orders.
A 1995-batch officer Sethi has been under the CBI lens for the past two years over the Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited bribery. His shunting has provided more grist to the rumour mills triggering speculation over what’s next for him.
This is for the second time since the scandal, over his alleged link with a senior officer of the central PSU who was arrested in a ₹10-lakh bribery case, broke out in December 2024 that Sethi has been assigned fringe posting. He was shifted from the three keys positions – principal secretary of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, ST&SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare departments, and Odia Language, Literature & Culture Department following a summon from CBI in the bribery case the same year.
On December 7, 2024, the CBI arrested Chanchal Mukherjee, the group general manager of the PSU, on charges of taking ₹10 lakh bribe from a real estate company for awarding work orders, clearing bills, and obtaining undue advantage. He was caught taking the bribe money from the owner of a real estate firm in front of a hotel in Bhubaneswar. Sethi’s name came up during Mukherjee’s interrogation. Three days after the FIR and arrests, the CBI on December 10 sent a notice to the IAS officer to appear before the investigating agency the following day. Sethi, however, skipped the summon on December 11 and sought time through his counsel. His drivers had already been grilled by the CBI in connection with the bribery case.
Incidentally on October 19, 2024, Sethi, who was then Principal Secretary of ST & SC Development Dept, wrote to the CMD of Bridge & Roof Co regarding assignment of projects for upgrading an Ashram School to High School and another High School to Higher Secondary School worth ₹37 crore. It was not clear whether these school projects had anything to do with the bribery arrests by the CBI.
However, amid Opposition demand for action against him, the Mohan Charan Majhi government acted swiftly by effecting a mini reshuffle in the senior level, shifting him to General Administration and Public Grievance department as an OSD on December 17.
Two months later in February 2025, an eight-member team of the CBI reportedly from Delhi conducted a raid at his residence during which he accused the former of harassing him and his family, while noting that no FIR has been filed against him and claiming his innocence. A handwritten resignation letter addressed to the state chief secretary surfaced in social media, shortly thereafter. The letter said Sethi was tendering resignation because he felt the investigation was targeting him. It also mentioned that the 1995-batch officer was denied promotion to the additional chief secretary rank by the state government while his batchmate Hemant Sharma was elevated.
The senior IAS officer faced a major setback in July 2025, when the Orissa High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, seeking protection from arrest, citing apprehension of being taken into CBI custody amid the ongoing probe.
Months later in February this year, Sethi was appointed as OFDC Chairman and given additional charge as KBK Chief Administrator. His latest posting indicates he is not on the government’s good books with his superannuation due in March next.
