KK Paul is new governor of Meghalaya

Former Delhi police commissioner replaces Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary
ANDREW W. LYNGDOH

Shillong, July 2 : Former Delhi police commissioner Krishan Kant Paul was appointed the new Meghalaya governor today. Paul will replace governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary whose five-year term ended today.

An MSc and PhD in Chemistry from Punjab University, Paul joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1970 and was allocated to the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh–Goa–Mizoram–Union Territories) cadre, under which he was first posted on Andaman and Nicobar Islands and then served as chief of Arunachal Pradesh police.

He was the Delhi Police commissioner from February 2004 to July 2007 and after retirement, became a member of Union Public Service Commission on July 26, 2007. Married to Omita Paul, who is currently posted as secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee, and an avid cricket lover, Paul is credited with having cracked the first ever cricket betting racket in which South African captain Hansie Cronje was indicted.

Mooshahary assumed the office of governor on July 1, 2008, during the then Meghalaya Progressive Alliance government under Donkupar Roy. He was the first person from an indigenous community to become governor of this predominantly tribal state and the only non-politician ever from the Northeast to hold the constitutional office.

A former chief of the National Security Guards (NSG) and BSF, Mooshahary had recently made headlines by bringing out various allegations against the private CMJ University, of which he is the Visitor. He had also suggested that the state government should dissolve the university that was formed through a state Assembly legislation.

Mooshahary’s tenure will also be remembered for President’s Rule imposed from March 19, 2009, to May 12, 2009, following the dismissal of the MPA government.

Apart from Paul, Lt Gen. (retd) A.K. Singh was appointed the new lieutenant governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in place of Lt Gen. (retd) Bhopinder Singh, former civil servant and Jamia Millia Islamia University vice-chancellor Najeeb Jung replaced Tejendra Khanna as the lieutenant governor of Delhi and Virendra Kataria replaced Iqbal Singh as the lieutenant governor of Puducherry.