Day after he resigned as J&K LG, GC Murmu Appointed as CAG Chief
NEW DELHI : Girish Chandra Murmu on Thursday, 6 August was appointed as the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG), a notification by the Ministry of Finance said. He had stepped down as the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. Murmu will replace Rajiv Mehrishi, who is scheduled to complete his term this week.
Earlier in the day, President Nath Kovind accepted Murmu’s resignation, anRamd former Union minister and senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, Manoj Sinha, was appointed in his place.
Murmu took oath as the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir on October 31, 2019, when J&K was officially bifurcated into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Murmu had been appointed as the first LG of the newly-formed Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir last year. Manoj Sinha is now the new LG of J&K, after President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignation of Murmu on Wednesday.
Before being appointed L-G, Murmu was the Expenditure Secretary in the Union Ministry of Finance, and had drafted the development package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2015.
Just a week ago, the Election Commission had taken exception to L-G Murmu’s comments to the media on the timing of Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir. In a strongly-worded statement, the EC said all decisions on the conduct and timing of elections are its “sole remit”.
In an interview to The Indian Express ,Murmu had emphasised that President’s Rule in J&K cannot be in place indefinitely and that “elections would not be very far.”
In the same interview, Murmu had also said the J&K administration had been making representations to restore 4G internet services, which have remained suspended for a year. “We have been representing this thing (restoration of 4G). It will not be a problem,” Murmu had said.
(With Agency Inputs ).
