New Delhi: Najeeb Jung, a former IAS officer, today took over as new Lt Governor of Delhi at a time when the national capital is grappling with a range of challenges including safety of women, regularisation of unauthorised colonies and crawling infrastructure.
62-year-old Mr Jung was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court BD Ahmed at a function at Raj Niwas which was attended by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, her ministerial colleagues and top brass of Delhi Government and police.
Mr Jung's predecessor Tejendra Khanna, however, skipped the function.
A 1973-batch IAS officer, Mr Jung is the 19th Lt Governor of Delhi who was appointed to the post by President Pranab Mukherjee last week. His appointment came just five months before the national capital goes to assembly polls.
As Lt Governor, Mr Jung will be in-charge of Delhi Police and Delhi Development Authority besides being the administrative head of the Delhi Government.
After being appointed as Lt Governor, Mr Jung had said that improving law and order situation and ensuring better security for women will be his priority. Mr Jung had said that he will adopt a zero tolerance policy towards crime against women.
Former LG Khanna had come under criticism following the December 16 gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl.
Asked to comment on his new assignment, Mr Jung said, "I will not speak today. I will talk to you after one week."
The Chief Minister welcomed Mr Jung's appointment as new Lt Governor.
"We have lot of expectations from him. We welcome his appointment," Ms Dikshit said.
On whether she had difficulties in dealing with law and order issues with Mr Khanna, Ms Dikshit said there was no such problem as responsibilities have been clearly divided.
"The responsibilities are clearly divided. LG does his work, we do our work. There has been no problem of coordination on the issue of law and order," she said.