New Delhi, Oct 25 (IANS): Expenditure Secretary Girish Chandra Murmu was Friday appointed the new Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, replacing Governor Satya Pal Malik who has been shifted to Goa, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said.

A 1985 batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer from the Gujarat cadre, Murmu is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah, and had served as Principal Secretary to Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Murmu was appointed OSD in the Expenditure Department in November last year.

The communique said that President Ram Nath Kovind has also appointed former Chief Information Commissioner and Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur as the Lt Governor of Ladakh.

A 1977 batch IAS officer, of the Tripura Cadre, Mathur had retired as CIC in November 2018 after serving as Defence Secretary from 2013 to 2015. He was also the Chief Secretary of Tripura.

The government on August 5 abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution from Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir with a legislative assembly and Ladakh without one. The formal bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir will come into effect from October 31.

The President also appointed P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, the BJP's Kerala state President, as Governor of Mizoram.