Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Friday promoted three senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers — Saswata Mishra, Vishal Kumar Dev and Usha Padhee — to the rank of Additional Chief Secretary following their elevation to the Apex Grade (Level-17) of the IAS pay matrix.
According to a notification issued by the General Administration & Public Grievance Department, the officers, all from the 1996 batch of the Odisha cadre, have been granted the Apex Grade with effect from February 1, 2026, under the provisions of the IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016.
On promotion to the Apex Grade, the three officers have been appointed as Additional Chief Secretaries and will continue to hold their current assignments until further orders, the notification stated.
In a separate order, the state government also approved proforma promotion to the Apex Grade for Vir Vikram Yadav, IAS (1996 batch), who is presently on Central deputation. His promotion has been granted under sub-rule 5 of Rule 8 of the IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016.
The orders were issued with the approval of the Governor and signed by Debasis Singh, Additional Secretary to Government, on January 31.
The Apex Grade is the highest level in the IAS hierarchy and is accorded to officers occupying top policy-making and administrative positions.
It may be noted here that Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee, an IAS of the1996 batch has already been promoted to the Apex Scale since last January 1.
