APPOINTMENT OF NEW GOVERNORS

• Former Supreme Court judge Justice S. Abdul Nazeer (retd) is among the six new faces appointed Governors by President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday.
• The President also accepted the resignations of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Ladakh Lieutenant-Governor R.K. Mathur in the latest gubernatorial reshuffle.
• Justice Nazeer (retd), who was part of the five-judge Bench that delivered the November 2019 Ayodhya verdict, has been appointed Governor of Andhra Pradesh, while the incumbent, Biswa Bhushan Harichandan, has been moved to the Chhattisgarh Raj Bhavan.
• The former judge, who also headed the five-judge Constitution Bench that upheld the Union government’s November 2016 decision to demonetise ₹500 and ₹1000 currency notes, retired in January.
• Four leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Gulab Chand Kataria, who was serving as the Leader of the Opposition in Rajasthan, have been appointed Governors.

Ex-SC judge among six Governors appointed

• Mr. Kataria will be the new Governor of Assam. The other BJP leaders who were nominated for governorship are Lakshman Prasad Acharya for Sikkim, C.P. Radhakrishnan for Jharkhand and Shiv Pratap Shukla for Himachal Pradesh.
• In Maharashtra, Mr. Koshyari has been replaced by Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais, while the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh Brig. B.D. Mishra (retd) will replace Mr. Mathur in Ladakh. Lt. Gen. K.T. Parnaik (retd) will be the new Arunachal Pradesh Governor.
• The reshuffle also saw Chhattisgarh Governor Anusuiya Uikye moving to Manipur, while the incumbent in Manipur, La Ganesan, was appointed as the Governor of Nagaland. Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan has been moved to Meghalaya while incumbent Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar will replace him in Bihar.
• Following an uproar in Maharashtra over his controversial remarks on Chhatrapati Shivaji and the calls for his removal by the Opposition parties
• Ladakh as well, the Union Home Ministry removed Mr. Mathur from the L-G position amid an agitation by civil society groups.
• The protesting groups sought safeguards for the Union Territory, such as inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution that provides protection to tribal-dominated areas.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB