The Naveen Patnaik Government on Friday shunted out the Minister and Secretary at the Higher Education department for “poor performance”.
The action is rare as the State Government has hardly ever cited ‘poor performance’ as the basis for ousting a Minister and secretary.
While Higher Education Minister Rohit Pujari was dropped from the Council of Ministers, Secretary Bishnupada Sethi was transferred to the ‘insignificant’ post of officer on special duty to general administration.
Last month, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had reviewed the performance of every department.
Soon after the review, the former Minister had painted a rosy picture of the Higher Education Department. Mr. Pujari told the Odisha CM that the department had tried hard to improve higher education.
He had gone on to announce free wi-fi and one GB data for students of technical institutions, colleges and universities, setting up of scholarship council and monitoring of teachers’ attendance (7 hours duty) through bio-metric devices.
Reacting to his removal from the Ministry, Mr. Pujari told reporters that he had given his best and he was perhaps not up to par. “I would improve myself in any future assignment given me,” he said. Mr. Sethi has not only lost the Secretary’s posting, he was also removed as Chairman of Odisha Hydro-Power Corporation.
Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister has been given additional charge of the Higher Education Department. Arvind Agarwal, Director Social Welfare, Women and Child Development Department has been appointed as secretary of Higher Education department.
Mr. Pujari who hails from Sambalpur recently stirred up controversy when he said politicians over 60 years should retire from politics.
