Girish Chandra Murmu and Radha Krishna Mathur appointed as first Lieutenant Governors of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories

Girish Chandra Murmu, Radha Krishna Mathur

Ahead of the creation of two new Union Territories on 31st October, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh by bifurcating the current state of Jammu & Kashmir, the union government as appointed Lieutenant Governors for the two UTs.

Girish Chandra Murmu has been appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir, while Radha Krishna Mathur will be the first Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Union Territory. Current J&K governor Satyapal Malik has been named as the new governor of Goa. The govt also appointed P. S. Sreedharan Pillai as governor of Mizoram, and retired IPS officer Dineshwar Sharma as the administrator of Lakshadweep.

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Both the Lieutenant Governors of he new Union Territories are from Indian Administrative Service. Girish Chandra Murmu is a 1985 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Gujarat cadre from Odisha. He was the principal secretary to Narendra Modi during his tenure as CM of Gujarat, and is considered a close confidant of the prime minister. He currently holds the post of Expenditure Secretary in the finance ministry.

Radha Krishna Mathur is a retired 1977 batch IAS officer of Tripura cadre, who retired as the Chief Information Commissioner of India (CIC) in November 2018. Mathur has held the posts of Union Defence Secretary, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Secretary of India and the Chief Secretary of Tripura.

P. S. Sreedharan Pillai is a veteran leader of BJP from Kerala. He had started his political career with ABVP, and had held several posts in BJP, including the state president in Kerala.

Dineshwar Sharma is a former chief of Intelligence Bureau, and an IPS officer from Bihar. The new administrator of Lakshadweep was earlier appointed as interlocutor for Kashmir. Before working in various central forces like BSF, CRPF and IB, he was in Kerala police.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia