K Sanjay Murthy appointed next Comptroller and Auditor General

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday appointed higher education secretary K Sanjay Murthy as the next Comptroller and Auditor General. He will succeed incumbent G C Murmu, who retires on Thursday. The appointment of the 1989-batch IAS officer, who is due to retire in little over a month, came as a surprise to many.

A soft-spoken engineering graduate, Murthy is known as an officer who comes up with new ideas and was in the thick of action as he was the secretary in-charge of the ministry that dealt with the National Testing Agency. The NTA made news for wrong reasons as it was found wanting in conducting crucial exams such as NEET-UG for medical college admissions and UGC-NET.

He comes with an extensive administrative experience having served as I&B secretary and as the MD of the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation in the ministry of commerce and industry, implementing the govt's ambitious plan to build new industrials towns and cities.

Murthy had also served as additional secretary in the ministry of housing and urban affairs, overseeing urban transport; Delhi Development Authority; and state-run NBCC.

Murmu, a 1985-batch IAS officer, was appointed as CAG in Aug 2020 after serving as the J&K lieutenant governor. He had succeeded Rajiv Mehrishi. Murmu was a trusted hand of PM Narendra Modi as he had served in the home department of the Gujarat govt when Modi was chief minister. Later, he served as Modi's principal secretary in the state.

After Modi became PM, Murmu moved into the finance ministry before heading to J&K as lieutenant governor.

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