Commissioners

Shri Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, Chairperson,OERC

Shri Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, formerly of the Indian Administrative Service, joined the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission as Chairperson on 1st March, 2023 after retiring from the post of Chief Secretary which he held from 1st January, 2021 to 28th February, 2023. Born on 4th February 1962, Shri Mahapatra completed his M.Sc. Tech in Applied Geology from Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad in 1985. He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1986 after a brief stint in ONGC.

In an illustrious career in IAS spanning over 36.5 years, Shri Mahapatra has held multifarious positions both at District and at State level. Shri Mahapatra started his career as Sub-Collector, Nuapada in Kalahandi District in 1988. After a stint of ADM and Project Director, District Rural Development Agency he served as Collector of Bhadrakh, Kandhamal and Puri districts. He is credited for successful handling of Riots in Kandhamal district in 1994, 2007 and 2008. He conducted Navakalevar Festival in Shree Jagannath Temple Puri in 1996  and 2015 successfully as Collector  and Chief  Administrator of  Shree  Jagannath Temple. He was   specially deputed to Puri and Bhadrakh districts during and after super cyclone of 1999. Shri Mohapatra also worked as Managing Director of Odisha State Cooperative Milk Federation (OMFED) for about 6 years.

As far as power sector is concerned, Shri Mahapatra has unique distinction of working in distribution, transmission, trading and generation sector for about 6 years and was involved in Power Sector Reforms in the State from the very beginning.

He was appointed as Administrator of Central Distribution Company after exit of AES abruptly. He worked as CEO, CESU for about 2 years. Later on he worked as MD of GRIDCO (Transmission and Bulk Supply Company) from 2003 to 2006. He was Secretary to Government, Energy Department twice in 2008 and 2014 for a period of about 2 years during which time massive rural electrification work was taken up in the State. He also served as Chairman of OHPC and OPGC generating companies.

Shri Mahapatra has also worked as Secretary to Government in Water Resources Department for about 5 years and Additional Chief Secretary in Forest and Environment Department for 4 years. During this tenure he started the community managed eco tourism model in the State which has become a grand success with more than 50 Nature Camps at present in scenic locations, giving livelihood to forest dependent communities.

Shri Mahapatra served as Development Commissioner cum ACS in Planning and Convergence Department of the State for about 2 years where he was involved in budget preparation exercise for the State and monitoring of various plans and programmes. He headed the Committee which successfully auctioned the mineral blocks after amendment of MMDR Act on the orders of Supreme Court of India. This resulted in huge revenue generation for the State which fuelled investment in various sectors in the State.

Shri Mahapatra served as Chief Secretary of the State from 1st January, 2021 to 28th February, 2023. He played the pivotal role in management of Covid-19 Pandemic successfully in the State. As Chief Secretary he was also non-executive Chairman of all 4 private distribution companies.

Shri Gajendra Mohapatra, Member

Born on 26th May, 1960 at village-Kanikapada, Block-Dasarathpur, District: Jajpur. Shri Gajendra Mohapatra enrolled as an Advocate and joined practice at Bhubaneswar Bar. He entered into Odisha Judicial Service and had served as a Judicial Officer at different places such as Baragarh, Aska, Bhubaneswar, Kamakhyanagar and Rourkela. He was Registrar (Judicial) of the Hon’ble High Court of Orissa before his appointment as the Director of Public Prosecutions, Odisha, Bhubaneswar. Later, he served as the Special Judge (Vigilance), Balasore and District and Sessions Judge, Dhenkanal prior to his assignment as the Director (Prosecution Wing) to the Hon’ble Lokayukta, Odisha, Bhubaneswar.

His career as Judicial Officer included commendable work on civil, criminal, sessions and vigilance cases. During his stint as the Director of Prosecution of the Hon’ble Lokayukta, Odisha, he had actively participated in organising awareness programmes in different parts of Odisha to disseminate knowledge about the anti-corruption mechanism. Shri Mohapatra has taken oath as the Member, Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission, Bhubaneswar on 1st June, 2020.

Shri Sushanta Kumar Ray Mohapatra, Member

Shri Sushanta Kumar Ray Mohapatra, formerly of the Indian Engineering Service, joined the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission on 29th December, 2021 after retiring from Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power, Govt. of India. Born on 21st May 1961, Shri Mohapatra has done Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Sambalpur University, Odisha; Master’s degree in Power system from IIT Kharagpur and MBA from Faculty of Management Studies(FMS), University of Delhi.

He had been with Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Ministry of Power for the past 34 years. During his tenure with CEA he has held various important positions across divisions such as Planning, Design & Engineering, Monitoring and Grid Operation and was also involved informulation of regulations, technical standard, specifications and guidelines. He was actively involved in Design & Engineering consultancy for first 400kV substation of Govt. of Bhutan and APTRANSCO; formulation of guidelines for Export/Import (Cross Border) of Electricity (2018) with neighbouring country; preparation of report of task force (constituted by Ministry of Power, Gov. of India) on Cyclone Resilient Robust Electricity T&D infrastructure in coastal areas of the country; preparation of One Nation One Specification - Standard Specifications for EHV AC Transformers & Reactors (66kV and above voltage class); preparation of “Manual on Substation” of Central Board of Irrigation & Power (CBI&P) and reduction in RoW of transmission lines in urban & forest areas of the country etc.

He also served as Member Secretary of North Eastern Regional Power Committee (NERPC) and introduced requisition based Scheduling, protection audit, implementation of System Protection Scheme (SPS) & Islanding scheme in North Eastern Region for the first time.

He is a senior member of IEEE, USA and was representing CEA as Member / Chairman in various technical committees.He retired as Chief Engineer, CEA in 2021 and has been nominated as Expert of National Committee on Transmission (NCT), Ministry of Power (Govt. of India). He has contributed number of papers & articles tonational & international seminars and journals & magazines on Indian Power sector.

Shri Ray Mohapatra has taken over the responsibility as Member, Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).

Former Commissioners