Jyoti Prakash Pattnaik Appointed as Interim Advocate General of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Following the resignation of Ashok Kumar Parija as the Advocate General (AG) of Odisha, the state government has appointed government advocate Jyoti Prakash Pattnaik has been appointed as the interim AG.

A notification issued by the Law Department on Wednesday stated that Pattnaik will “remain in charge of the Advocate General to manage the day-to-day work in addition to his own duties.” This means Pattnaik will be fulfilling the responsibilities of the Advocate General alongside his existing workload.

Ashok Kumar Parija, who was appointed AG in 2019 by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government, stepped down from the post after the party’s defeat in the 2024 Assembly elections.

Parija’s resignation follows a string of departures from the BJD administration. Earlier, retired IAS officer and chief advisor to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, Chief Advisor (Special Initiatives) R Balakrishnan, advisor Upendra Tripathy, and principal secretary of the Electronics and IT department Manoj Kumar Mishra had also resigned from their respective positions.