Retired judge on Ayodhya Bench, four BJP leaders among six new Governors

Aditi Tandon

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New Delhi, February 12

President Droupadi Murmu 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.

3rd Ayodhya verdict judge on Plum post

• Justice Nazeer is the third SC judge associated with the Ayodhya verdict to assume a post-retirement position
• Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha
• Justice Ashok Bhushan was named chairperson of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal

Army officers in Arunachal, Ladakh Raj Bhavans

• Amid LAC tension, Lt Gen KT Parnaik (retd) has been made Arunachal Pradesh Governor. He is joint MD for Defence and Security, Rolta India
• Prior to that, he served as Northern Command chief, commanded 2 Rajputana Rifles, an Infantry Brigade during Op Parakram and a Mountain Division in Sikkim
• Brig BS Mishra (retd), who has been shifted from Arunachal Pradesh to Ladakh, is former commander of the Counter Hijack Force of the National Security Guard, known as Black Cat Commandos

Jairam Ramesh objects, cites Arun Jaitley

Pre-retirement judgments are influenced by the desire for post-retirement jobs

The President, while accepting the recent resignation of Bhagat Singh Koshyari, appointed Ramesh Bais, Jharkhand Governor, as the new Governor of Maharashtra. Justice S. Abdul Nazeer will be the Andhra Pradesh Governor. The incumbent, Biswabhusan Harichandan, has been shifted to Chhattisgarh.

Justice Nazeer, who retired on January 4, has been part of apex court Constitution Benches that have delivered several landmark judgments, including the 2019 Ayodhya verdict, the 2017 judgment deeming triple talaq unconstitutional and another declaring right to privacy a fundamental right, and the 2021 ruling turning down telecom companies’ pleas seeking recalculation of the adjusted gross revenue dues which the government had demanded.

On January 2 this year, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice Nazeer declared that the November 8, 2016, decision of the government to demonetise currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination did not suffer from any illegality.

Lt Gen KT Parnaik (retd), who has served as Northern Command chief, has been appointed as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.

President Murmu has named Tamil Nadu BJP leader CP Radhakrishnan as the Jharkhand Governor. Radhakrishnan, a former MP elected twice from Coimbatore, was the party’s Kerala in-charge during the 2021 state elections. Two senior BJP leaders from Uttar Pradesh Lakshman Prasad Acharya and Shiv Pratap Shukla have also landed gubernatorial positions for the first time. Acharya has been appointed for Sikkim and Shukla for Himachal Pradesh. Acharya, party’s state unit vice-president and Legislative Council member, hails from Ramnagar in Varanasi. Shiv Pratap Shukla, a three-time Union Minister, four-time MLA and an ex-Rajya Sabha MP from Rudrapur in Gorakhpur, retired from the Upper House in 2022.

Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly of the election-bound Rajasthan Gulab Chand Kataria (78) has been appointed as the Assam Governor.

As part of the reshuffle in seven states, the President has appointed Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan as the Governor of Meghalaya and shifted Brig BD Mishra (retd), Arunachal Governor, as Ladakh L-G, after accepting the resignation of Radha Krishnan Mathur. It was not immediately known what led to Mathur’s resignation. Mathur has been facing stiff opposition led by reformist Sonam Wangchuk in Ladakh.

Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, HP Governor, has been appointed as the Bihar Governor; Anusuiya Uikey has been moved from Chhattisgarh to Manipur as Governor and La. Ganesan, Governor of Manipur, has been appointed as the Governor of Nagaland. Meghalaya and Nagaland elections are due on February 27. Chhattisgarh will also vote this year.

Meanwhile, responding to Congress’ criticism over the appointments, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said the whole eco-system was once again in full swing on the appointment of a Governor. “They can no more treat India as their personal fiefdom,” he added.