Union govt appoints Girish Chandra Murmu as first Lieutenant Governor of J&K

Union govt appoints Girish Chandra Murmu as first Lieutenant Governor of J&K

POONCH TODAY NEWS

NEW DELHI: Girish Chander Murmu, a senior IAS officer, who worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat and is currently the expenditure secretary, was on Friday appointed the first Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, by the union government, six days ahead of the state becoming a union territory.

Murmu, 59, an IAS officer of 1985 batch, worked as Modi’s additional principle secretary during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister. He was due for retirement on November 30. He will be administered oath of office on October 31 in Srinagar after which he will be the administrative head of Kashmir and Jammu provinces. The state’s third province — Ladakh– has been carved out as a separate Union Territory. Former defence secretary R K Mathur was appointed the first Lt Governor of strategically located Ladakh. The 65-year-old bureaucrat, belonging to 1977 IAS batch, retired as chief information commissioner last year. He will be administered oath of office on  October 31 in Leh. The present governor of the state Satya Pal Malik moves to Goa for the remainder of his tenure as the governor. He was first appointed governor of Bihar in September 2017 and later shifted to Jammu and Kashmir last year in August.