Born on 31st May, 1934 in the village Naharkanta, the then Dist. Cuttack, Orissa. Had the school education in P.M. Academy, Cuttack and graduated from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack in the year 1954. Passed M.Sc. in Botany in First Class from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack in 1956. Joined as Lecturer in Botany in Class II Orissa Education Service. Did Ph.D. from Utkal University in 1965 working in a research scheme Cytotaxonomic studies of Polypodiaceae of Eastern India’ at Botanical Survey of India, Shillong, Assam availing a CSIR Fellowship during 1960-62.
Serving in number of Government Colleges in the State of Orissa, Dr. Patnaik joined as Lecturer in Botany in the newly started Post-Graduate Department of Botany in Utkal University campus at Vani Vihar on 2nd July, 1969. Since then he continued in this Department, became Reader in Botany in August, 1970 and Professor of Botany in December, 1983. He was the Head of the Dept. of Botany from December, 1983 till May, 1990 when rotation of Headship was introduced. Worked for Post-Doctoral Research in protoplast technique for one year at the University of Nottingham, U.K. during 1984-85, availing a British Council Fellowship in Colombo plan. Visited Sweden in May, 1989 for attending 10th Chromosome Conference at Upsala and USSR in January 1990 leading Indian. He superannuated from his service on 31st May 1994.
Delegation of Integrated Long term programme in Environmental Research. His research interests are in the field of Cytogenetics, Tissue culture, Protoplast Technology, Biosystematics and Floristics. He worked on Cytogenetic and Biosystematic studies in Amaranthaceae, Cytotaxonomy of Cyperaceae, Genetic upgrading of Solanum viarum, Invitro meiosis and sporogenesis, In vitro anther culture for haploids, Cytota.xonomy of Fabaceae, Genetic improvement of Pigeonpea, Biochemical aspect of growth and differentiation of callus tissue, Mass propagation of Dalbergia through tissue culture, Flora of Puri District.
He was Fellow of the Linean Society of London and member of learned societies and attended many National and International conferences. Organised number of National and State level conferences and seminars. Published about 80 research papers. Thirteen students have obtained Ph.D. under his guidance.