Krishan Kant Paul

Krishan Kant Paul, also known as K. K. Paul (born 6 February 1948), is the 6th and current Governor of Indian state of Uttarakhand, in office since January 2015.^[1][2] He had previously served as Governor of Meghalaya for over one year (2013–15) with the additional charge of Mizoram and Nagaland for the same post.^[3]

A former officer of the Indian Police Service, he served as the Commissioner of Police, Delhi from February 2004 to July 2007.^[1][4]

Early life and background

Paul was born on 6 February 1948. He did his post-graduation (Master of Science) in Chemistry from Punjab University, Chandigarh. This was followed by his Ph.D thesis in fluorine chemistry, which was highly commended and resulted in 15 research publications of a technical nature, in international scientific journals of repute. In the context of his research work in chemistry, he has over 20 papers published in international scientific journals of repute.^[5]

Career

As an IPS officer

Paul joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1970 and was allocated to the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh–Goa–Mizoram–Union Territories) cadre, under which he was first posted on Andaman and Nicobar Islands and then served as chief of Arunachal Pradesh Police. He was the Commissioner of Delhi Police from February 2004 to July 2007. Paul is credited with having cracked the first ever cricket betting racket in which South African captain Hansie Cronje was indicted. Paul has experience working in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).^[5]

While posted in Delhi, he had wide ranging experience of urban policing and was involved in handling some large events like the 1982 Asian Games, followed by NAM and CHOGM in 1983.^[6][7][8]

As a member of UPSC

After retiring from police service, Paul became a member of the Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi on 26 July 2007. He served there until July 2013.^[5]

As the Governor of states

On 2 July 2013, Paul was appointed as the new Governor of Meghalaya. He joined on 8 July 2013. On 2 July 2014, he took the an oath as Governor of Nagaland. He was given the additional charge as the 18th Governor of Nagaland.^[9]

On 16 September 2014, Paul was sworn in as the 14th Governor of Mizoram. Mizoram was assigned to him as additional charge.^[10] On 17 September 2014, he was sworn in as the 15th Governor of Manipur. Manipur was assigned to him as an additional charge.^[11]

Paul was sworn in as the 6th Governor of Uttarakhand on 8 January 2015 replacing Aziz Qureshi, who was sent to take charge as the new Governor of Mizoram. This challenged the move of the Narendra Modi government to seek resignations of Governors appointed during the UPA regime. Qureshi filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India stating that Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami had called him up the previous July to seek his resignation. However, Goswami denied the allegations.^[3][12]

Personal life

Paul is married to Omita Paul, a former Indian Information Service officer, who is currently posted as secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee.^[13]

Paul is an avid cricket lover. He was amongst the first Ph.D holders in Police Service. He has maintained his touch with the academics and continued to write on various matters of topical interest. One of his columns, "Brass Tacks", appeared regularly in the daily newspaper The Tribune.

References