Krishan Kant Paul (born 6 February 1948) is a former

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

officer, who served as the Commissioner of Police, Delhi from February 2004 to July 2007. Following his retirement from the IPS, he served as the governor of several states—

Meghalaya Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...

(2013–15),

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

(2014-15) and

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

(2015–18). He had also held the governorships of

Mizoram Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilometres (449 miles) of international borders with Bangladesh to the west, and Myanmar t ...

and

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

briefly, as additional charges.

Early life and background

Paul was born on 6 February 1948. He did his post-graduation (

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

) in

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from

Punjab University, Chandigarh Panjab University (PU) is an Indian collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Lahor ...

. This was followed by his Ph.D. thesis in

fluorine Fluorine is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at Standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions as pale yellow Diatomic molecule, diatomic gas. Fluorine is extre ...

chemistry, which was highly commended and resulted in 15 research publications of a technical nature, in international scientific journals of repute.

Career

As an IPS officer

Paul has experience working in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the

Research and Analysis Wing The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) is the foreign intelligence agency of the Republic of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, and a ...

(RAW). He was the longest serving Police Commissioner of Delhi from February 2004 to July 2007.

As a member of UPSC

After retiring from police service, Paul became a member of the

Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is a constitutional body tasked with recruiting officers for All India Services and the Central Civil Services (Group A and B) through various standardized examinations. In 2023, 1.3 million applica ...

, New Delhi on 26 July 2007. He served there until July 2013.

As the Governor of states

On 2 July 2013, Paul was appointed the new Governor of Meghalaya. He joined on 8 July 2013. On 2 July 2014, he was sworn in as Governor of Nagaland. He was given the additional charge as the Governor of Nagaland. On 16 September 2014, Paul was sworn in as the Governor of Mizoram. Mizoram was assigned to him as additional charge. On 17 September 2014, he was sworn in as the

Governor of Manipur A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

. Manipur was assigned to him as an additional charge. Paul was sworn in as the 6th Governor of Uttarakhand on 8 January 2015 replacing Aziz Qureshi, who was sent to take charge as the new Governor of Mizoram. This challenged

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 ...

's government's attempts to make Governors appointed during the UPA regime resign.

Personal life

Paul is married to Omita Paul, a former Indian Information Service officer, who was posted as secretary to former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

, having worked with him, in different capacities since the 1980s.

References

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Krishan Kant Living people Governors of Meghalaya Governors of Manipur Governors of Uttarakhand Governors of Nagaland 1948 births Panjab University alumni Commissioners of Delhi Police Chiefs of police Indian Police Service officers People of the Research and Analysis Wing 21st-century Indian politicians Governors of Mizoram