Governor Malik reassigns departments to Advisors

Farooq gets Rural Dev, Ganai gains Election, PDMD; Kumar unchanged

JAMMU: Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday redistributed the portfolios among his five Advisors, made necessary after addition of Advisor Farooq Ahmad Khan in his team, besides taking the opportunity to reshuffle a few important departments among the old Advisors-- K Vijay Kumar, Khursheed Ahmad Ganai, K Skandan and K K Sharma-- as well.
Under President’s rule, the administrative functioning of State is run through Governor and his Advisors.
Khan had assumed charge as the fifth Advisor to Malik on Tuesday following which the Governor redistributed the business among them all, barring Advisor Kumar who continues to hold the same eight departments as he used to, with key department being Home. The other departments held by him are Forest Ecology & Environment, Health & Medical Education, Estates, Civil Aviation, Information, Youth Service & Sports, and Hospitality & Protocol.
Farooq Ahmad Khan--the newest Advisor to Governor—has been entrusted with the responsibility of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj among eight departments, others being School Education, Technical Education, Social Welfare, Hajj & Auqaf, Culture, Tribal Affairs—previously held by Ganai; and Agriculture/Horticulture previously held by Skandan along with Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.
Among the other Advisors Khursheed Ahmad Ganai who held 13 departments prior to today’s reshuffling has retained seven of them--- Higher Education, Tourism, Floriculture, Cooperative, Labor & Employment, Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, and ARI Trainings-- and has also been given charge of two other departments including the all important Election and that of Planning, Development & Monitoring which were held previously by Advisor K Skandan and Advisor K K Sharma previously.
Advisor K K Sharma who was in-charge of seven departments has lost only PD&MD to Advisor Ganai and retained the significant portfolios of Finance, Public Works (R&B), Power Development Department, PHE/I&FC, Housing & Urban Development Department, and Science & Technology.
Advisor Skandan’s burden was also lessened with three of total 11 departments held by him being relieved. He, however, retains the key portfolio of Industries & Commerce, Revenue and Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs Departments along with the charge of Information Technology, Transport, Animal
& Sheep Husbandry, Ladakh Affairs and Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction Departments.
Meanwhile, Advisor Ganai will be leaving on Haj Pilgrimage prompting the government to distribute his departments among the other four Advisors of Governor.
An official order issued by GAD said that Advisor Kumar will look after ARI Trainings and Cooperative, Advisor Sharma will hold the charge of Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, and Planning, Development & Monitoring departments, Advisor Skandan will get Floriculture and Tourism, whereas Advisor Khan will look after Labour & Employment, Election, and Higher Education Department “during the period Advisor (G), remains away from headquarters on Haj Pilgrimage,”
The papers related to the General Administration Departments shall be submitted by the Chief Secretary directly to Governor, the order said.