The Centre on Friday transferred Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, and appointed him the governor of Goa, ANI reported.
He will be succeeded by Expenditure Secretary Girish Chandra Murmu as the lieutenant governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Murmu was principal secretary to Narendra Modi during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister. Former Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur will be the lieutenant governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh, NDTV reported. The new Union Territories will come into existence on October 31, and both the governors will be administered oath of office on the same day.
Malik was appointed to the post in Jammu and Kashmir on August 21, 2018, months after the state government collapsed with the fall of the Bharatiya Janata Party-Peoples Democratic Party government. He was at the helm of the state administration when it was under Governor’s Rule and then under President’s Rule, and also oversaw the revocation of the state’s special constitutional status. He will succeed Mridula Sinha, who completed her five-year tenure in August this year but continued to hold the post till October 23.
With Murmu’s appointment, the tenure of advisors to the Jammu and Kashmir governor – K Vijay Kumar, Khursheed Ganai, K Sikandan and KK Sharma – may come to an end as all of them are seniors in service to the new Lt Governor, PTI reported.
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