Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet has approved the creation of a Principal Secretary post for engaging Manoj Kumar Mishra, a 2000-batch IAS officer, on a contractual basis after the Railway Ministry accepted his resignation from the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) cadre, a notification issued by GA &PA department said on Friday.
It is worth mentioning here that Mishra was appointed as the principal secretary of the Electronics and Information Technology department on a contractual basis in December 2022 a day after his resignation was accepted by the Ministry of Railways.
Mishra was on central deputation to the state and served as secretary of the Electronics and Information Technology department.
In January, the BJP had demanded that the state government cancel his appointment and sought an explanation as to why an outsider was being selected for an IAS-cadre post. The BJP alleged that Mishra’s appointment violated Articles 14 and 16 and Odisha government rules of business made under Article 166 of the Constitution of India.
