J&K UT: Search for new advisors to Lt Governor begin

The search for new advisors to the first Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir union territory (UT) has begun after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two UTs on Thursday.

Sources said several names are under consideration for being appointed as advisors to the LG and a decision in this regard will be taken soon. "In all possibility the government will make an announcement regarding the appointment of advisers by next week when the Durbar Move offices reopen in Jammu on November 4," they said.

Jammu and Kashmir ceased to be a State on Thursday as the two UTs including Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh came into the existence. Girish Chandra Murmu was sworn in as first LG of J&K UT while Radha Krishna Mathur took oath as LG of Ladakh UT.

While the decision to bifurcate the erstwhile State into two UTs and abrogation of its special status under Article 370 was taken on August 5, the decision was formally implemented on October 31. The transition from a state with special status into two UTs will mean that Jammu and Kashmir will have little power to govern its own.

Former governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik had five advisors. Malik took over as the governor of J&K state last year in August after the fall of PDP-BJP alliance government in the state two months earlier. After his departure from J&K, Malik has been appointed as governor of Goa.