The state of Jammu and Kashmir, which has been officially split into two Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, came into existence on Thursday with the day marking the beginning of the functioning of two UTs at a bureaucratic level.
Retired bureaucrat of Tripura cadre Radha Krishna Mathur was today sworn-in as the first Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh, which came into existence after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir. A former defence secretary, Mathur was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Gita Mittal at a function held at Sindhu Sanskriti auditorium at Tisuru.
The warrant of appointment was read by a senior official at the function after which the oath ceremony took place. Mathur, an IAS officer of 1977 batch from Tripura, later inspected a guard of honour of local police.
A post-graduate in Industrial Engineering from IIT, Mr Mathur retired as Defence Secretary in 2015 and was appointed as Chief Information Commissioner in December the same year. He completed his tenure in November last year after turning 65.
Ahead of the swearing-in, the Union Home Ministry revoked notification of December last year of imposition of President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir. The Centre on Wednesday night appointed Umang Narula, an IAS officer of 1989 batch, as advisor to Mathur besides posting SS Khandare, an IPS officer of 1995 batch, as ‘Head of Police’ in Ladakh.
The period between August 5 and October 31 has been used by the state administration and the Home Ministry to put a basic bureaucratic structure in place to implement the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act. The official bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir which comes on October 31 also happens to be Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary.