Odia IAS Officer Girish Chandra Murmu Appointed J&K Lt Governor

Bhubaneswar: Senior IAS officer hailing from Odisha, Girish Chandra Murmu has been appointed as the Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

A 1985-batch Gujarat-cadre IAS officer with a reputation as one of the closest confidantes of both PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Murmu is currently serving as the Expenditure secretary in the Union Finance Ministry.

He served as Modi’s principal secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office in Gujarat and is believed to have played a key role in advising Modi and Shah at critical junctures in their political careers.

Hailing from Betnoti area in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, Murmu who holds Master’s degree from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, and an MBA degree from the University of Birmingham is considered as one of the most powerful bureaucrats in the country.

It may be noted that the Centre had on August 5 nullified Article 370 of the Constitution, revoking the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir and also passed the bill on the bifurcation of the state into two UTs.