Satya Pal Malik appointed as new Governor Jammu and Kashmir

Bihar governor Satya Pal Malik was appointed the new Governor of J by the President on Tuesday. Mr. Malik replaces incumbent N.N. Vohra, who has occupied the J&K Raj Bhavan since 2008. The appointment of a person from a socialist background and not from the uniformed forces, as was being speculated earlier, reflects the Centre’s willingness to continue dialogue and engagement in the State, currently under Governor’s rule.

Though there is no fixed tenure for the Governor, Mr. Vohra continued in office at the pleasure of the President of India. Mr. Vohra’s second six-year term (that equals the State Assembly’s term of six years) ended on June 25. He continued in office after the State was placed under Governor’s rule on June 20 and Centre needed an experienced administrator given the ongoing Amarnath Yatra that concludes on August 28. Mr. Malik started out as a student leader in Meerut. In 1974 he joined Charan Singh’s Lok Dal and was elected an MLA to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. He was later elected twice to Rajya Sabha — in 1980 as a Lok Dal candidate and in 1986 from the Congress.