Meet GC Murmu, the first L-G of Jammu and Kashmir
Nearly three months after the special status was withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir, the newly-formed Union Territory got its new chief on Thursday. A short while ago, Girish Chandra Murmu was sworn-in as the Lieutenant-Governor, hours after his Ladakh counterpart Radha Krishna Mathur took the oath. The border state officially got a new map at midnight as per the J&K Reorganization Bill. Here's more.
Murmu, who will turn 60 in November, is a 1985-batch IAS officer who served as Expenditure Secretary in Finance Ministry. He also held important administrative portfolios when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. As he takes on the plum post, Murmu will be expected to take steps to ensure normalcy returns in the terrorism-infested region, and investments take off.
A native of Odisha, Murmu completed his Masters in Political Science from Utkal University. Later, he went to the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom to pursue MBA in Public Services. For seven years, he served as Additional Principal Secretary in the Home Ministry under CM Modi. He also worked with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and helped in governing public sector undertakings.
If buzz in political corridors is to be believed, Murmu advised PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah at "critical junctures" of their political careers. One of his colleagues told Business Standard in 2018 that Murmu has "enviable command over legal strategy". He overlooked litigation in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. In fact, in 2013, CBI questioned him in connection with the case.
His colleagues described him as an "accessible", "down-to-earth" officer, who thinks on his toes to come up with solutions. Since he frames legal strategies with utmost perfection, he was chosen to handle the region which has been under lockdown since August. Both PM Modi and Shah are fans of this senior officer because he gets things done.
#WATCH Srinagar: Girish Chandra Murmu takes oath as the first Lt. Governor of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The oath was administered by Chief Justice of JK High Court, Gita Mittal. pic.twitter.com/SFFmBbfDMt
— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2019
With a daunting task cut out for Murmu, he will also get a new team. The officers who advised J&K's former Governor Satya Pal Malik have reportedly been relieved of their duties. Retired IAS officers Khurshid A Ganai, KK Sharma, K. Skandan as well as retired IPS officers K. Vijay Kumar and Farooq Khan comprised Malik's team, but they haven't been reappointed yet.
