President Murmu appoints 13 new Governors; accepts resignations of those from Mah, Ladakh
| Date :13-Feb-2023 |
NEW DELHI,
THE Government on Sunday appointed six new faces as Governors, including retired Supreme Court judge S Abdul Nazeer, who was part of the historic 2019 Ayodhya verdict, and four BJP leaders, besides carrying out a rejig of the gubernatorial posts in seven States. According to a Rashtrapati Bhawan spokesperson, President Draupadi Murmu has accepted the resignations of Bhagat Singh Koshyari the Governor of Maharashtra, and R K Mathur the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh. The President in total appointed 13 Governors.
Ramesh Bais, who was the Governor of Jharkhand, has been appointed Governor of Maharashtra, the official said.
Koshyari, who has been in the line of Opposition fire over his remarks on Chhatrapati Shivaji, said last month that he had conveyed his desire to quit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that he would like to spend the remainder of his life reading, writing and in other activities. It was not immediately known what reasons prompted Mathur’s resignation. Mathur has been facing stiff opposition led by noted education reformist Sonam Wangchuk in the three-year-old Union Territory.
The President appointed Governor of Arunachal Pradesh Brig B D Mishra (retd) in his place, the spokesperson said. Justice Nazeer, a former Supreme court judge, according to the spokesperson, was appointed as the new Governor of Andhra Pradesh. The incumbent, Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, has been shifted to Chhattisgarh. Justice Nazeer, who retired on January 4, has been part of several path-breaking verdicts, including those on the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute, instant ‘triple talaq’ and the one that declared ‘right to privacy’ a fundamental right.
The President also appointed Lt General Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik (retd) as Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, the spokesperson said. Lt General Parnaik (retd) served as commander of the Army’s prestigious Northern Command.
Four BJP leaders, including two from Uttar Pradesh, were also appointed as new Governors.
According to the spokesperson, Lakshman Prasad Acharya, C P Radhakrishnan, Shiv Pratap Shukla and Gulab Chand Kataria have been appointed as Governors of Sikkim, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Assam respectively. While Acharya is a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, Radhakrishnan is a two-time Lok Sabha member of the BJP from Coimbatore. He was the man behind forging the BJP-led NDA alliance in 1999.
Former Minister of State for Finance Shukla was the BJP’s candidate in Rajya Sabha and retired in 2022, whereas Kataria is the sitting Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly. Kataria had served as the Home Minister in the previous Vasundhara Raje Government. Other than Bais, Mishra and Harichandan, the other transfers included the shifting of Anusuiya Uikye from Chhattisgarh to Manipur, La. Ganesan from Manipur to Nagaland, Phagu Chauhan from Bihar to Meghalaya and Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar from Himachal Pradesh to Bihar.
The following appointments have been notified:
(1) Lt. General Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik, PVSM, UYSM, YSM (Retired) as Governor of Arunachal Pradesh (2) Lakshman Prasad Acharya as Governor of Sikkim. (3) C.P. Radhakrishnan as Governor of Jharkhand. (4) Shiv Pratap Shukla as Governor of Himachal Pradesh. (5) Gulab Chand Kataria as Governor of Assam. (6) (Retd.) S. Abdul Nazeer as Governor of Andhra Pradesh. (7) Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh appointed as Governor of Chhattisgarh. (8) Anusuiya Uikye, Governor of Chhattisgarh appointed as Governor of Manipur. (9) La. Ganesan, Governor of Manipur appointed as Governor of Nagaland. (10) Phagu Chauhan, Governor of Bihar appointed as Governor of Meghalaya (11) Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Governor of Himachal Pradesh appointed as Governor of Bihar. (12) Ramesh Bais, Governor of Jharkhand appointed as Governor of Maharashtra. (13) Brig. (Dr.) Shri B.D. Mishra (Retd.), Governor of Arunachal Pradesh appointed as Lt. Governor of Ladakh