New Delhi, Oct 25 (IANS): The 1985 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer, Girish Chandra Murmu, was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking up the challenging job of the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, which comes into existence as Union territory from October 31.

Holding a Business Administration degree from the Birmingham University, G.C. Murmu is perceived as one of the most trusted serving bureaucrats in the Union Government. Before 2014, when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Murmu, who hails from Odisha, was his Principal Secretary and was tasked to monitor all the prestigious projects of the state government.

On March 1 this year, Modi elevated Murmu as Expenditure Secretary from his earlier post of Special Secretary, Revenue, Ministry of Finance. Murmu is known for skills in effective implementation of government schemes.

Sources said that Murmu, who keeps a low profile, was hitherto handling several important assignments in Revenue Department and later in the Expenditure. As Expenditure Secretary, he worked in close coordination with the Prime Minister's Office as well as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Earlier PM Modi had appointed BVR Subrahmanyam as Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, much before the abrogation of Article 370, considered as one of the most important decisions of the Modi government. Subrahmanayam, a senior IAS officer of Chattisgarh cadre, had worked with PM Modi in his first tenure.

Sources said PM Modi had personally selected Subrahmanyam for the important role of the Chief Secretarty of Jammu and Kashmir where senior IAS officer demonstrated extraordinary skills in handling law and order and overall administration of a territory which faced curfew for several weeks.