GC Murmu named Comptroller and Auditor General of India

The government on Thursday appointed former Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Girish Chandra Murmu as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. He will take oath on Saturday at Rashtrapati Bhawan.“…the President has been pleased to appoint Shri Girish Chandra Murmu to be the Comptroller and Auditor General of India with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office,” a notification by the Department of Economic Affairs issued on Thursday night said.Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind accepted Murmu’s resignation from the post.

The appointment came a day after Murmu resigned abruptly as Jammu and Kashmir L-G — the position has now been filled by Manoj Sinha who will be sworn in on Friday.

Murmu’s resignation came on the day the Union Territory marked the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

The former IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre had on October 29 last year taken over as the first L-G of the union territory after the state of Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded and sliced into two UTs, the other one being Ladakh.

There was no official word on the reasons for the resignation of Murmu, a 1985-batch IAS officer, who has served as Principal Secretary to Narendra Modi during his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister. He was a secretary in the Ministry of Finance at the time of his appointment as Lt Governor.

Meanwhile, Sinha, a former Union minister and senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, was on Thursday appointed as the new Jammu and Kashmir L-G. He is the first political leader to take charge in that post.

The 61-year-old is known for his massive connect with the people of rural areas. Sinha will be administered the oath of office and secrecy on Friday by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Justice Gita Mittal at the Raj Bhavan.

Source: News18