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Governor of Uttarakhand
Governor of Uttarakhand
	Emblem of Uttarakhand
	Incumbent; Gurmit Singh; since 15 September 2021
	Government of Uttarakhand
Style	His Excellency (within Uttarakhand); The Honourable (outside Uttarakhand)
Status	Head of state
Residence	Raj Bhavan, Nainital (summer); Raj Bhavan, Dehradun (winter)
Nominator	Union Government of India
Appointer	President of India
Term length	At the pleasure of the President
Inaugural holder	Surjit Singh Barnala (2000–2003)
Formation	9 November 2000; 24 years ago
Website	Governor of Uttarakhand

The governor of Uttarakhand is the nominal head of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Appointed by the president of India, the governor holds office at the president's pleasure. The governor is de jure head of the state government; all its executive actions are taken in the governor's name. However, the governor must act on the advice of the popularly elected Uttarakhand Council of Ministers, headed by the chief minister of Uttarakhand, who thus hold de facto executive authority at the state-level. The Constitution of India also empowers the governor to act upon his or her own discretion, such as the ability to appoint or dismiss a ministry, recommend President's rule, or reserve bills for the president's assent. The governor of Uttarakhand has their official residences at the Raj Bhavans in Dehradun and Nainital.

Uttarakhand was created on 9 November 2000, when it was carved out from the Himalayan districts of Uttar Pradesh. The first governor of the state was Surjit Singh Barnala who served in office between 2000 and 2003. The current governor is Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh (Retd.) who has been in office since 14 September 2021. As of date, eight individuals have served as the governor of the state including two women - Margaret Alva and Baby Rani Maurya. No governor has till date completed full term in office. Sudarshan Agarwal holds the record of the longest-serving governor with 4 years, 293 days in office.

Qualifications

Article 157 and Article 158 of the Constitution of India specify eligibility requirements for the post of governor. They are as follows:

A governor must:

be a citizen of India.
be at least 35 years of age.
not be a member of either house of the parliament or house of the state legislature.
not hold any office of profit.

Powers and functions

The governor enjoys many different types of powers:

Executive powers related to administration, appointments and removals,
Legislative powers related to lawmaking and the state legislature, that is Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) & vidhan parishad, and
Discretionary powers to be carried out according to the discretion of the governor.

Apart from enjoying various constitutional powers, the governor of Uttarakhand is the ex-officio Chancellor of the twelve state universities of Uttarakhand. The universities include Doon University, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Uttarakhand Medical Education University, Kumaun University, Soban Singh Jeena University, Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand University, Uttarakhand Ayurved University, Uttarakhand Open University, Uttarakhand Residential University, Uttarakhand Sanskrit University, Uttarakhand Technical University, and Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry

List of governors

No.	Name (Lifespan)	Portrait	Home state	Tenure in office			Immediate prior position held	Appointed by (President)
No.	Name (Lifespan)	Portrait	Home state	From	To	Time in office	Immediate prior position held	Appointed by (President)
1	Surjit Singh Barnala (1925–2017)		Punjab	9 November 2000	7 January 2003	2 years, 59 days	Union Cabinet Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers (until 1999)	K. R. Narayanan
2	Sudarshan Agarwal (1931–2019)		Punjab	8 January 2003	28 October 2007	4 years, 293 days	Member, National Human Rights Commission	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
3	Banwari Lal Joshi (1936–2017)		Rajasthan	29 October 2007	5 August 2009	1 year, 280 days	Governor of Meghalaya	Pratibha Patil
4	Margaret Alva (born 1942)		Karnataka	6 August 2009	14 May 2012	2 years, 282 days	General Secretary, All India Congress Committee
5	Aziz Qureshi (1941–2024)		Madhya Pradesh	15 May 2012	7 January 2015	2 years, 237 days	Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha (until 1989)
6	Krishan Kant Paul (born 1948)		Chandigarh	8 January 2015	21 August 2018	3 years, 225 days	Governor of Meghalaya	Pranab Mukherjee
7	Baby Rani Maurya (born 1956)		Uttar Pradesh	26 August 2018	14 September 2021^[a]	3 years, 19 days	Member, Uttar Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights	Ram Nath Kovind
8	Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh (Retd.) PVSM UYSM AVSM VSM (born 1956)		Punjab	15 September 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 95 days	Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Information Systems and Training) (until 2016)	Ram Nath Kovind