Girish Chandra Murmu (born 21 November 1959) is a retired IAS officer who has served as 14th

Comptroller and Auditor General of India The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (ISO: ''Bhārata kē Niyaṁtraka ēvaṁ Mahālēkhāparīkṣaka'') is the supreme audit institution of India, established under Article 148 of the Constitution of India. They are empowered to au ...

from 2020 to 2024 and as the external auditor of the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; , UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing g ...

. He served as chairman of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Panel of

External Auditors An external auditor performs an audit, in accordance with specific laws or rules, of the financial statements of a company, government entity, other legal entity, or organization, and is independent of the entity being audited. Users of these ent ...

and the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions. He is currently the external auditor of the WHO (2020-2023), succeeding the Auditor General of the Philippines. He was the Inaugural

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of the

Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir ( J&K) is a region administered by India as a union territory and consists of the southern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan sin ...

till 6 August 2020. He is a 1985 batch IAS officer of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

cadre and was principal secretary to

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

during his tenure as the

Chief Minister of Gujarat The chief minister of Gujarat is the head of government, chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose Cabinet (government), council of ministers are Cabinet collective respons ...

Early life and education

G.C. Murmu was born on 21 November 1959 in Betnoti village of

Mayurbhanj Mayurbhanj district is one of the 30 districts of Odisha state in eastern India and the largest in the state by area, nearly equivalent to Tripura. The district's headquarters is located in Baripada, with other major towns including Rairangp ...

district in

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

in a

Santal The Santal (or Santhal) are an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic-speaking Munda peoples, Munda ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal in terms of population and are also found ...

family. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from

Utkal University Utkal University (UU) is a public university in Bhubaneswar, Khordha, Odisha, and is the oldest university in the state, and the 17th-oldest university in India. The university was established in 1943 and was operating from Ravenshaw College ...

. He also holds an MBA degree from

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. He is the eldest among eight siblings, six brothers and two sisters. One of his brothers, Shirish Chandra Murmu is working as an Executive Director at the

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

as of 2022.

Career

In 2001, when

became chief minister of

, Murmu was the Relief

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

. Shortly afterwards he became Commissioner, Mines and Minerals and thereafter Managing Director,

Gujarat Maritime Board Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is a government agency of the Government of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1982 to control, manage and operate the minor ports of Gujarat. History The GMB was founded in 1982 under the Gujarat Maritime Bo ...

. Murmu's career took off in 2004 when he was made joint secretary of the Gujarat Home Department, which was headed by

Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...

and directly supervised by Narendra Modi. He was given the task of handling the

2002 Gujarat riots The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence or the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Godhra train burning, burning of a train in Godhra on 27 Fe ...

cases. Murmu has been described as "trusted aide" of Narendra Modi and

since his bureaucratic assignments in Gujarat by many news outlets such as ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', ''The Wire'', ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' and ''

News18 India News18 India is an Indian Hindi-language television channel owned by the Network18 Group. It was launched in 2005 as Channel 7 by Jagran Prakashan and acquired in 2006 by Network18 Group and rebranded IBN7. In 2016 it took its current name. ...

''. When Modi became prime minister, he called Murmu to New Delhi to finance ministry's expenditure department, where he served as joint secretary. Murmu was questioned by

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...

in 2013 in an alleged staged encounter case involving the killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others who allegedly plotted to assassinate the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. The ''

Tehelka ''Tehelka'' () is an Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations. According to the British newspaper ''The Independent'', the ''Tehelka'' was founded by Tarun Tejpal, Aniruddha Bahal and another colleague ...

'' magazine presented an audio recording where Murmu, along with senior law officer Kamal Trivedi and the then-junior home minister at the Centre, Praful Patel, were purportedly heard discussing methods to conceal the alleged fake encounter. These audio recordings are recorded in CBI's chargesheet in the mentioned case. On 31 October 2019, Murmu took charge as the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir after the formation of the new Union territory of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

under the

Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 is an act of the parliament of India containing provisions to split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories: Ladakh and the residuary Jammu and Kashmir, and becoming effective ...

. He succeeded

Governor of Jammu and Kashmir The governor of Jammu and Kashmir was the head of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. When India became independent, Hari Singh was the Maharaja of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. Technically he remained so until 17 November 195 ...

Satya Pal Malik Satya Pal Malik (born 24 July 1946) is an Indian politician. Malik served as the 10th and last Governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, from August 2018 to October 2019, and it was during his tenure that revocation of the special ...

, to become the first

Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir is the head of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The office of lieutenant governor was established after an Act was passed in August 2019 in the Parliament of India, reorganising ...

. Chief Justice of

Jammu and Kashmir High Court The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is the common high court for union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. It was established as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 26 March 1928 by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The s ...

Gita Mittal administered the oath of office at a function at

Raj Bhavan Raj Bhavan () is the common name of the official residences of the governors of the states of India and may refer to: List of Raj Bhavan See also * Raj Niwas *Rashtrapati Ashiana *Rashtrapati Bhavan *Rashtrapati Nilayam Rashtrapati Nilaya ...

. On 5 August 2020, he resigned from his position. On 8 August 2020, he was appointed as the

and served in office till 20 November 2024.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Murmu, G C 1959 births Living people Utkal University alumni Alumni of the University of Birmingham Indian Administrative Service officers People from Mayurbhanj district Santali people Lieutenant governors of Jammu and Kashmir