Devdas Chhotray belongs to the old and historic town of Cuttack, which claims to be more than one thousand years old. For the major part of history, Cuttack has been the capital of Orissa, a coastal state in eastern India with a rich cultural heritage.

The landscape of twentieth century Cuttack was inseparable from the majestic campus of Ravenshaw College (it continues to be so even now), from where Devdas Chhotray graduated. He obtained his Masters from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, and completed his second graduate study at Cornell University, USA. 

Devdas Chhotray was a career civil servant. After spending a lifetime in the Indian Administrative Service, during which he worked in the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa (old Bengal Presidency), and in the Government of India, he secured voluntary retirement to join as the first Vice Chancellor of Ravenshaw University on November 15, 2006.