Satya Pal Malik likely to become first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, say reports

Satya Pal Malik is likely to become the first Lieutenant Governor (L-G) for both Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, media reports said. News18 quoted sources as saying that Malik is being considered as a frontrunner to the post.

File image of newly-appointed Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik. News18

According to The Quint, Malik will be administered the oath of office as per the Constitution of India by the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Gita Mittal. The appointed day for the implementation of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 is 31 October, 2019.

Malik is the current governor of Jammu and Kashmir and was previously given the additional charge to serve as governor of Odisha till 28 May, 2018. He is the first career politician to be appointed as the governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 51 years after Karan Singh whose term had ended in 1967.

Interestingly, Malik said recently at a public event, "Governor is a weak entity. He does not have the right to hold a press conference or talk his heart out. I remain apprehensive for almost three days hoping that my words have not annoyed anyone in Delhi."

Malik made these remarks while addressing the seventh convocation of the Mata Vaishno Devi University in Katra town of Reasi district.

After the bifurcation of the present state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre will exercise direct control over the law and order of the two states through the Lieutenant Governor. However, in the proposed Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, rights over land will be under the purview of the elected state government. By contrast, in Delhi, the L-G exercises control over the same.

Political career

Malik started his political career as a student leader in Meerut University and became MLA of Charan Singh's Bhartiya Kranti Dal from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh in 1974.

He joined the Congress in 1984 and became its Rajya Sabha MP but resigned three years later in the background of Bofors scam. He switched to the VP Singh-led Janta Dal in 1988 and became an MP from Aligarh on its ticket in 1989.

In 2004, Malik joined the BJP and unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections, losing to former prime minister Charan Singh's son Ajit Singh.

With inputs from PTI