RK Mathur takes oath as first L-G of Union Territory of Ladakh

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Former bureaucrat Radha Krishna Mathur was sworn-in on Thursday as the first Lieutenant Governor of the strategically located Union Territory of Ladakh, which came into existence after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mathur, who will turn 66 next month, was administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Gita Mittal, at a function held at the Sindhu Sanskriti auditorium in Leh, which was attended by officials of the Leh and Kargil hill councils, Army and paramilitary forces, religious leaders and the general public.

Ahead of the swearing-in, the Union Home Ministry revoked a notification of December last year imposing President’s rule in undivided Jammu and Kashmir. The Centre, on Wednesday night, appointed Umang Narula, a 1989-batch IAS officer, as an advisor to Mathur, besides posting S S Khandare, a 1995-batch IPS officer, as the ‘Head of Police’ in Ladakh. With a population of nearly three lakh, Ladakh is strategically located as it shares borders with Pakistan as well as China.