Bhubaneswar: Senior bureaucrat Asit Tripathy today took charge as the Chief Secretary of Odisha while his predecessor Aditya Prasad Padhi assumed office as the State Election Commissioner (SEC). Padhi handed over charge to Tripathy in presence of senior officials and media persons at the Lok Seva Bhawan.
A 1986-batch IAS officier, Tripathy was serving as the Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary and Chief Administrator KBK before being appointed as the Chief Secretary.
Tripathy became the 43rd chief secretary of the state after Padhi took voluntary retirement from service before joining as the State Election Commissioner.
After taking over charge, Tripathy said that he would ensure that government files were speedily cleared.
The chief secretary said he believed in consuming less time to study a file and expected officers to do the same. "5T will get top most priority", said Tripathy.
Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had asked the officials to adopt 5T (Teamwork, Technology, Transparency, Transformation and Time Limit) to bring about transformational change in the state.
Meanwhile, taking over charge from Naba Kumar Nayak, AP Padhi said that he will make efforts not to hamper the dignity of the State Election Commissioner's post. I will ensure smooth conduct of the upcoming civic body and panchayat polls in Odisha, said Padhi.
[With PTI Inputs]