Mizoram Governor Dr Aziz Qureshi was sacked from his post by President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday, an official release stated.
Until further appointment of another Governor in Mizoram, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi would hold additional charge of the state, the official communique added.
The directive from President’s office read —
“The President has directed that Dr. Aziz Qureshi shall cease to hold the office of the Governor of Mizoram and has appointed Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal, to discharge the functions of the Governor of Mizoram, in addition to his own duties, until regular arrangements for the office of the Governor of Mizoram are made.”
With Qureshi’s sacking, the northeastern state has seen the departure of six Governors in just nine months since the Narendra Modi government assumed office.
74-year-old Qureshi had dragged the Centre to Supreme Court over the issue of removal of Governors.
Qureshi had taken over as the Governor of Mizoram on January 9, after being transferred from Uttarakhand and had a tenure upto May 2017.
The jinx with the gubernatorial post in Mizoram began in July last year when V Purushottam, who was transferred to neighbouring Nagaland by the Modi government, quit saying that he had not been consulted.
This was followed by transfer of 87-year-old Kamla Beniwal from Gujarat to Mizoram. She took over as the 12th Governor on July 6 but the tenure remained short-lived as she was sacked by the Government for alleged impropriety, a charge denied by her, exactly a month later. She had two months of her tenure left.
Beniwal had served in Gujarat earlier and had a running battle with Modi when he was the state’s chief minister.
This was followed by transfer of Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan to Mizoram. He, however, refused to take charge and quit soon after his transfer order was issued on August 24 last.
Former Union Home Secretary V K Duggal, who was the then governor of Manipur, was given the additional charge of Mizoram. His tenure was shortlived thereafter only for 20 days as he too quit on August 28.
K K Paul was given the additional charge of Mizoram along with Meghalaya till he was transferred to Uttarakhand to replace Qureshi.
