Bhubaneswar: The Mohan Charan Majhi led government in Odisha today removed the Chairperson and Members of the State Commission for Women from their posts with immediate effect.
According to sources in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), State Commission for Women Chairperson Minati Behera and other four Members Swarnalata Samal, Sujata Digal, Babita Swain and Bijaya Barwa have been removed from their posts with immediate effect. The Women and Child Development Department will be soon issuing an official notification in this connection, the sources added.
The move comes more than four months after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was formed in the state.
Notably, the Commission’s Chairperson and other four Members are front ranking leaders of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Minati Behera, a BJD leader was appointed as the Commission’s Chairperson for the second term in October 2022 and the other four Members who also happen to be BJD leaders were appointed in April 2023.
However, after the BJP government came to power in the state in June, it immediately removed all the BJD leaders from all the corporations, boards and other government posts.
However, the BJD leaders were not removed from the State Commission for Women and the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. Since they did not resign on their own, the State government dismissed the Chairperson and Members of the using the powers conferred on them under Section 3 of Odisha Act-1994.
It may be mentioned here that tenure of the Commission’s Chairperson and other Members is three years.
