The governor of Meghalaya serves as the ceremonial head of the Indian state of Meghalaya. Appointed by the president of India, the governor holds office as long as the president desires. The governor's official residence is the Raj Bhavan.

The position of the governor of Meghalaya came into existence following the creation of the state in January 1972 as a result of the bifurcation of Assam. The first governor was Braj Kumar Nehru, then governor of Assam who held the additional charge of the governor of the newly created state of Meghalaya from 21 January 1972 until his transfer on 19 September 1973. From 1972 until 1989, the Governor of Assam held the additional charge of the Governor of Meghalaya. The first full-time governor of the state was A. A. Rahim who served from 27 July 1989 until 8 May 1990.

The current governor is Phagu Chauhan who has been in office since 18 February 2023 and had previously served as the Governor of Bihar. The longest-serving governor of the state is M. M. Jacob who served for 11 years, 296 days from 19 June 1995 until retiring on 11 April 2007.

History

The position of the Governor of Meghalaya came into existence after the creation of Meghalaya as in independent state on 21 January 1972. The inaugural holder of the office was Braj Kumar Nehru, the Governor of Assam who held the charge of the Governor of Meghalaya until his transfer in September 1973. His successors in Assam, namely Lallan Prasad Singh, Prakash Mehrotra, Justice Tribeni Sahai Misra (Acting), Bhishma Narain Singh and Harideo Joshi concurrently held the additional charge of the Governor of Meghalaya. The first full-time governor was appointed in July 1989 with A. A. Rahim who served until May 1990. Since then, Meghalaya has had all full-time governors, except for few occasions.

Following the retirement of M. M. Jacob, the state's longest serving governor in 2007, then Manipur Governor Shivinder Singh Sidhu held the additional charge as the state's governor from 29 October 2007 until the appointment of Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary on 30 June 2008. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi held the additional charge of the governorship from 6 January 2015 until 19 May 2015 after then governor Krishan Kant Paul was appointed as Governor of Uttarakhand. Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit held the additional charge of the state's governor from 27 January 2017 till 5 October 2017 after the resignation of V. Shanmuganathan, while Arunachal Governor B. D. Mishra held the charge of the state's governorship from 4 October 2022 till 13 February 2023 following the retirement of Satyapal Malik.

Powers and functions

The governor enjoys many different types of powers:

  • Executive powers related to administration, appointments and removals,
  • Legislative powers related to lawmaking and the state legislature, that is Vidhan Sabha or Vidhan Parishad, and
  • Discretionary powers to be carried out according to the discretion of the governor.

Apart from enjoying various constitutional powers, the governor of Meghalaya also the Chief Rector of the North Eastern Hill University, the sole central university in the state.


Governors

This is a list of the governors of Meghalaya state in northeastern India. Meghalaya became an autonomous state within Assam on 1 April 1970 and a separate state on 21 January 1972.[1]

No. Name
(born – died)
Portrait Tenure in office Immediate prior position held
From To
43 Braj Kumar Nehru
ICS (Retd.)
Governor of Assam
(1909–2001)
1968 18 September
1973
Governor of Assam (continued)
44 Lallan Prasad Singh
ICS (Retd.)
Governor of Assam
(1912–1998)
19 September
1973
10 August
1981
Governor of Assam (continued)
45 Prakash Mehrotra
Governor of Assam
(1925–1988)
11 August
1981
28 March
1984[§]
Governor of Assam (continued)
46 Justice
Tribeni Sahai Misra
Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court &
Acting Governor of Assam
(1922–2005)

(Acting)
29 March
1984
15 April
1984
Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court and
Acting Governor of Assam (continued)
47 Bhishma Narain Singh
Governor of Assam
(1933–2018)
16 April
1984
10 May
1989
Governor of Assam (continued)
48 Harideo Joshi
Governor of Assam
(1920–1995)
11 May
1989
21 July
1989
Governor of Assam (continued)
49 A. A. Rahim
(1920–1995)
27 July
1989
8 May
1990
Union Minister of State for External Affairs (until 1984)
50 Madhukar Dighe
(1920–2014)
9 May
1990
18 June
1995
Cabinet Minister of Finance, Uttar Pradesh (until 1979)
51 M. M. Jacob
(1926–2018)
19 June
1995
11 April
2007
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
52 Banwari Lal Joshi
IPS (Retd.)
(1936–2017)
12 April
2007
28 October
2007
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
53 Shivinder Singh Sidhu
IAS (Retd.)
Governor of Manipur
(1929–2018)

(Additional Charge)
29 October
2007
30 June
2008
Governor of Manipur (continued)
54 Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary
IPS (Retd.)
(born 1947)
1 July
2008
30 June
2013
Chief Information Commissioner, Assam
55 Krishan Kant Paul
IPS (Retd.)
(born 1948)
1 July
2013
6 January
2015
Member, Union Public Service Commission
56 Keshari Nath Tripathi
Governor of West Bengal
(1934–2023)

(Additional Charge)
6 January
2015
19 May
2015
Governor of West Bengal (continued)
57 V. Shanmuganathan
(born 1949)
20 May
2015
27 January
2017[§]
58 Banwarilal Purohit
Governor of Assam
(born 1940)

(Additional Charge)
27 January
2017
5 October
2017
Governor of Assam (continued)
59 Ganga Prasad
(born 1939)
5 October
2017
25 August
2018
Member, Bihar Legislative Council
60 Tathagata Roy
(born 1945)
25 August
2018
18 December
2019
Governor of Tripura
61 R. N. Ravi
IPS (Retd.)
Governor of Nagaland
(born 1952)

(Acting)
18 December
2019
26 January
2020
Governor of Nagaland (continued)
62 Tathagata Roy
(born 1945)
27 January
2020
18 August
2020
Governor of Meghalaya
63 Satya Pal Malik
(born 1946)
18 August
2020
3 October
2022
Governor of Goa
64 Brigadier (Retd.)
B. D. Mishra
Governor of Arunachal Pradesh
(born 1939)

(Additional Charge)
4 October
2022
13 February
2023
Governor of Arunachal Pradesh (continued)
65 Phagu Chauhan
(born 1948)
18 February 2023 29 July 2024 Governor of Bihar
66 C H Vijayashankar
(born 1956)
30 July 2024 Incumbent Environment and Forest Minister of Karnataka

See also

References

  1. ^ "Past Governors: Raj Bhavan, Meghalaya". meggovernor.gov.in. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
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