Distribution of departments under the supervision of the Chief Secretary and the Development Commissioner has been notified after revision of the earlier allocation. The core regulatory departments, as per practice and tradition, are always with the Chief Secretary. The departments are General Administration, Home, Finance, Planning & Coordination and law.
The Agriculture and allied departments have also been allocated to the Chief Secretary. Often, these departments had gone to the Development Commissioner (DC) or the Agriculture Commissioner (APC) or an Additional Chief Secretary.
There is no APC post now, probably because Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati is considered to be an agriculture expert as he spent nearly seven years in the Government of India as Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Union Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
As such, the Agriculture Department and associated Water Resources along with Fishery and Animal Resources Development have been given to the Chief Secretary.
Considering the current emphasis on investment equally by the Centre and State Government, industry-related departments are under the supervision of the Chief Secretary. These include Industries, IT, Energy, Steel and Mines and MSME.
land and forest and environment clearance being major considerations for new ventures, these departments are also in his portfolio.
The major responsibility given to Development Commissioner Upendra Nath Behera relates to human resources development. School & Mass Education, Higher Education and Technical Education, Science & Technology Departments have been placed under him.
In all, the Chief Secretary now has 22 departments and the DC 16. Earlier, the DC had only 11 departments. A former Chief Secretary commented that the allocations are more or less balanced; however, two modifications could have made it more rational.
Firstly, the Commerce & Transport Department dealing with new ports could have been under the Chief Secretary as an investment-attracting measure. And Health & Family Welfare and ST SC Development could have been given to the DC under the human resources umbrella, he said. Secondly, Excise, being a major revenue-generating department it should have been clubbed with Finance and Steel & Mines under the Chief Secretary.
A former APC commented that considering the primacy of agriculture in the State, it is high time a competent senior officer was posted as APC to supervise agriculture and allied sectors.