Satya Pal Malik has been transferred to Meghalaya.
New Delhi:
Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik has been moved to Meghalaya, his third move in two years, and Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been given additional charge of Goa.
Satya Pal Malik was appointed Goa governor in October last year. He was the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir when its special status under Article 370 was scrapped and it was divided into two union territories.
Two months later, Mr Malik was shifted to Goa. He was the Governor of Bihar before his one-year term in Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently, Mr Malik was seen to disagree with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of the BJP-led Goa government on the coronavirus situation in the coastal state. He also sharply refuted a statement by the Chief Minister, who had quoted Mr Malik as saying the media was giving “wrong information” on the COVID-19 situation in the state. “This is a big impropriety on part of Chief Minister. I have never said anything against media, print media or social media. Media is our strength and it informs us about lacunas. On the basis of the information, I called a meeting. It is wrong to say. It is highly improper. Any civilised man should not do it,” Mr Malik was quoted as telling news agency ANI on Mr Sawant’s remarks.
Earlier this month, the Governor had also shot down the Goa government’s plan for a new Raj Bhavan, calling it “irrational and imprudent” when the state was suffering from the impact of the pandemic.
During his stint in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Malik was linked to many controversies. Among the most notable was when he claimed he had not received a letter from PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti staking claim to form the government with Omar Abdullah’s National Conference in 2018. He blamed it on the fax machine in Raj Bhavan, which he said was not working that day as there was no staff to operate it.
