Joshi takes over as new Uttarakhand Governor

Dehradun, Oct 29 (UNI): Mr Banwari Lal Joshi took oath as the new Governor of Uttarakhand here today.

Uttarakhand High Court Judge M M Ghildiyal administered the oath to him in Rajbhavan.

Present on the occasion were Chief Minister Maj Gen(Retd) Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, other political leaders and government officials.

Mr Joshi is the third Governor of Uttarakhand after Mr Surjit Singh Barnala and Mr Sudarshan Agarwal.

Mr Joshi was received by Irrigation Minister Matbar Singh Kandari, Chief Secretary S K Das, DGP Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya, Governor's Secretary S Ramaswami on the railway station and taken to Rajbhavan for the ceremony. Mr Joshi reviewed the Guard of Honour after taking the oath.

Born in Rajasthan, Governor Joshi was educated at Scottish Church College in Kolkata and University Law College. He started his career as a police officer in 1957 and served in Inteligence Bureau. He also served in Prime Minister's Office during the period of Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi for more than four years. He was posted as First Secretary in Islamabad and London under Foreign Ministry, Government of India. Later he served as the Head of Chancery in Indian embassy at Washington.

Mr Joshi opted for voluntary retirement from the police service in 1991 and engaged himself in social service. He also served as Executive Director of California based NGO 'Foundation for Excellence' that provided scholarship to the outstanding and needy students of India. After his return from America in 2000, he was conferred the post of member, Rajasthan State Human Right Commission. He worked in that post for four years. He was appointed Deputy Governor of Delhi in 2004 and later took over as the Governor of Meghalaya in 2007.

UNI