[Bengia Ajum]
ITANAGAR, 28 Oct: The five-year tenure of Governor BD Mishra ended on the 3rd of this month.
Mishra was sworn in as the 19th governor of Arunachal Pradesh on 3 October, 2017. He was appointed as governor on 30 September, 2017 by the then president of India, Ramnath Kovind.
On the day his tenure ended, he was given additional charge of Meghalaya and was sworn in as the governor of that state on the 4th of this month.
“Until his replacement is appointed, he will continue to be the governor of Arunachal Pradesh. As per the laid down norms, he can continue as long as the central government wishes. Also, in the past, governors like Mata Prasad and JJ Singh also stayed way beyond their tenure,” said a Raj Bhavan official.
Mishra has mostly remained low-profile during his tenure, and is believed to have a good rapport with Chief Minister Pema Khandu. However, in August, the Raj Bhavan was dragged into a controversy after an organisation, Save Arunachal Movement (SAM), accused the Raj Bhavan of indulging in corrupt practices by making appointments to various secretariat staff posts, including the post of the assistant protocol officer, “flouting the state’s recruitment rules.”
The SAM had claimed that the governor “abused and misused his power and the constitutional post by recruiting the various posts without consulting the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board and the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.”
The Raj Bhavan did not respond to the allegation.
Mishra retired from the Indian Army on 31 July, 1995, as a brigadier, after an illustrious career in the forces, beginning as a permanent regular infantry officer on 17 December, 1961. He was the commander of the NSG’s (Black Cat commandos) counter-hijack task force that penetrated a hijacked aircraft of the Indian Airlines and successfully executed the rescue operation at the Raja Sansi airfield in Amritsar (Punjab) on 24 April, 1993. All 124 travellers and crew members were rescued in the operation after the elimination of the hijackers without any casualty or damage.
Mishra earned the prime minister’s appreciation for his role in ending the hijack crisis.
