Girish Chandra Murmu takes oath as the first Lieutenant Governor of the union territory of Jammu and kashmir. Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi
Former Gujarat cadre IAS officer Girish Chandra Murmu was on Thursday appointed as the first Lieutenant Governor of the newly-formed Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Murmu, who will turn 60 next month, is a 1985 batch Gujarat cadre officer and was previously serving as the Expenditure Secretary in the Union Finance Ministry. Murmu also held important administrative positions during the tenure of Narendra Modi as chief minister of Gujarat.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Justice Gita Mittal administered the oath to Murmu at a simple function held at Raj Bhawan at the foothills of the Zaberwan range. BJP leader Jugal Kishore and Rajya Sabha MP and PDP member Nazir Laway were among the over 250 guests present at the function.
A native of Mayurbhans in Odisha, Girish Chandra Murmu did his MA in Political Science from Utkal University while he completed his MBA in Public Services from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
Previously, Murmu has served as Additional Principal Secretary in the Home Ministry for seven years under CM Modi and has been a troubleshooter for the Gujarat government in cases ranging from 2002 riots to the alleged fake encounters in Gujarat.
The senior IAS officer has also helped in governing public sector undertakings in the country under Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Earlier today, former IAS officer Radha Krishna Mathur was sworn-in as the first Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.
The bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir was necessitated after the Centre stripped the erstwhile state of its special status under Article 370. The state was bifurcated into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which came into existence today.
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App
