New Delhi:
Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi, who had taken the Union government to Supreme Court for alleged attempts to ease him out of office, was today shifted to Mizoram.
A Presidential communique said that Mr Qureshi has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of his term till May 2017 and Meghalaya Governor KK Paul will take his place.
Mr Paul, who was appointed as Governor of Meghalaya on July 8, 2013, will continue to hold additional charge of Governor of Manipur till further orders, it said.
Mr Qureshi, who was among the Governors appointed by the UPA government, was reportedly told by Home Secretary Anil Goswami to quit after the NDA government took charge at the Centre. He had approached the Supreme Court against attempts to ease him out.
In his petition, Mr Qureshi had said that after the NDA government came to power, Mr Goswami had called him on July 30 and asked him to tender his resignation.
He had reportedly alleged, in his petition, that Mr Goswami again called him on August 8, insisting that he resign.
In another decision, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi has been asked to discharge the functions of the Governor of Meghalaya, in addition to his own duties, till further orders.
After the new Government took over, many governors appointed by the previous UPA regime were eased out, including Mizoram governor Kamla Beniwal, 87, who had served in Gujarat earlier.
Virendra Kataria, a former Congress leader, was also sacked as Puducherry lieutenant governor.
Four other governors - MK Narayanan (West Bengal) Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), BL Joshi (UP), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh) and B V Wanchoo (Goa) had also put in their papers.