Srinagar, Oct 31 :
Girish Chandra Murmu and Radha Krishna Mathur took oath as first lieutenant governors of union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh respectively. The two UTs were created after Home Minister Amit Shah moved Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, in the Parliament on August 5. This was followed by the revocation of Article 370. Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Justice Gita Mittal first administered the oath to Mathur in Leh and then to Murmu in Srinagar at a low key ceremony at Raj Bhawan on the banks of Dal lake. Media was not invited to cover the historic function. Sources said some family
Murmu, Mathur…
members of Murmu, including his wife and niece, attended the ceremony. Senior civil and security officers from Jammu and Kashmir administration, former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik, Chinar Corps Commander Lt General K.J.S. Dhillon and BJP MP from Jammu Jugal Kishore Sharma were among those who attended the ceremony. Born in Odisha in 1959, Murmu, a 1985 Gujarat cadre IAS officer, has served in different administrative positions and was principal secretary to Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. Despite the secretariat having been shifted to Jammu due to winter, the oath taking ceremony of Murmu was held in Kashmir to make a political statement about integrating Kashmir with the rest of India. Neither PM Modi nor Amit Shah attended the ceremony in Srinagar.The Lt Governor will decide the provisional strength, composition and allocation of officers after the notification of union territories. The status of IAS, IPS and other central service officers of Jammu and Kashmir cadre will remain unchanged in the two new UTS.
The Act allows the state employees the option to serve in either of the two UTs.
