File photo of GC Murmu
NEW DELHI: Former J&K lieutenant governor G C Murmu, a 1985 batch IAS officer, was appointed the Comptroller and Auditor General on Thursday.
He will succeed Rajiv Mehrishi, who is retiring on Friday. A government notification said the President had appointed Murmu to be the CAG from the date he took charge of the office.
Murmu resigned as J&K LG on Wednesday in a surprise move. While the Centre swiftly chose former Union miniser Manoj Sinha as his successor in Srinagar, the decision on who would succeed Mehrishi as CAG did not come until late on Thursday evening.
Trusted by PM Narendra Modi, Murmu served in the home department of Gujarat when Modi was chief minister. Later, he served as Modi’s principal secretary in the state. He was brought to the finance ministry to handle the Goods and Services Tax regime as additional secretary after Modi became prime minister and was involved in the implementation of indirect tax reforms.
Incidentally, Murmu will have at least four deputy CAGs senior to him in batch and three others of his batch to assist him in his new assignment. The CAG is assisted by seven deputy CAGs from the top cadres of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service. The CAG brings out at least 150 reports annually for both the central and state governments and is the supreme audit institution of the country.
