Senior IAS officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal
Credit: X/@Spouse_Teachers
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Sunday appointed senior IAS officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal as additional chief secretary (ACS) to the chief minister.
The General Administration and Public Grievance (GA&PG) department of the state government issued a notification to this effect.
“Nikunja Bihari Dhal, IAS (RR-1993), Chief Electoral Officer and ex-officio additional chief secretary to the government, Home (Election) department, is appointed as additional chief secretary to Chief Minister, Odisha,” read the notification.
Dhal has been serving as the chief electoral officer in Odisha since March 2023.
He had worked in various departments of the state government, including energy, health & family welfare, excise, revenue & disaster management, water resources, Panchayati raj and industries.
He was earlier entrusted with responsibilities of crucial positions like special relief commissioner, special residence commissioner New Delhi and commercial tax commissioner.