Loading…
The President of India has appointed Dr Dinesh Sharma as Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with effect from the date he assumes charge of the office.
The announcement was issued as a Press Communique by the President's Secretariat on 5 September 2026.
He succeeds Admiral (Retd) Devendra Kumar Joshi, who had held the post since 8 October 2017.
The Lieutenant Governor is the Administrator of the Union Territory, appointed by the President under Article 239 of the Constitution.
Andaman and Nicobar is a Union Territory without a legislature, whose capital Port Blair was renamed Sri Vijaya Puram in September 2024.
Every Union Territory is administered by the President acting through an Administrator appointed by them. The Administrator's designation varies: Lieutenant Governor in Andaman and Nicobar, Delhi, Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh; Administrator in Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Empowers Parliament to create a local legislature or council of ministers, or both, for certain Union Territories. Puducherry is the Union Territory that draws its legislature from this provision.
Inserted by the 69th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1991, it gives the National Capital Territory of Delhi a Legislative Assembly and Council of Ministers, with public order, police and land reserved to the Centre.
Allows the President to make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and certain other Union Territories, a legislative power that exists precisely because the territory has no assembly of its own.
Created Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory with a legislature and Ladakh as one without, taking the number of Union Territories with legislatures to three: Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.
Administrator of the Union Territory under Article 239, exercising executive authority on behalf of the President; the territory has no elected assembly or chief minister
Issues the Press Communique announcing appointments of Governors and Lieutenant Governors made by the President
India's first and only tri-service theatre command, operationalised in October 2001 on a Kargil Review Committee recommendation to guard the approaches to the Strait of Malacca; commanded by a three-star officer with Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard assets under one commander
Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited, the Union Territory undertaking executing the Great Nicobar Island Development Project
The archipelago lies in the Bay of Bengal, closer to Myanmar and Indonesia than to the Indian mainland. Indira Point on Great Nicobar is India's southernmost point. The Great Nicobar Island Development Project, conceived by NITI Aayog and executed by ANIIDCO, proposes an international container transhipment port at Galathea Bay along with a greenfield airport, a township and a power plant.
Only Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir have one. Andaman and Nicobar, Ladakh, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu do not.
A Governor heads a state under Article 155 in Part VI; a Lieutenant Governor is an Administrator of a Union Territory under Article 239 in Part VIII, acting as an agent of the Centre rather than on the aid and advice of an elected government, except where a UT legislature exists.
The flagship development programme the incoming Lieutenant Governor inherits, centred on a transhipment port at Galathea Bay and contested on ecological and tribal-rights grounds.
The islands sit astride the western approaches to the strait, which is why India's only tri-service command is based there.
GS Paper 2 > Polity > Union Territories and their Administration
General Awareness > Polity and Current Affairs > Appointments
The "Cellular Jail", also known as Kala Pani, is located in which state/UT?
Answer: Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Which one of the following pairs of islands is separated from each other by the 'Ten Degree Channel'?
Answer: Andaman and Nicobar
The President is elected by an electoral college, while the Governor is:
Answer: Appointed by the President
Consider the following statements: I. The Constitution of India explicitly mentions that in certain spheres the Governor of a State acts in his/her own discretion. II. The President of India can, of his/her own, reserve a bill... Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: I only
Consider the following statements: The Governor can dissolve the State Legislative Assembly. The President has no such power regarding the Lok Sabha. Which of the above is/are correct?
Answer: Only 1
Union Territory administration is a recurring UPSC Prelims polity theme, and Andaman and Nicobar geography appears in almost every SSC cycle.
The constitutional term used in Article 239 for the head of a Union Territory's administration; 'Lieutenant Governor' is a designation the President assigns to that Administrator in some Union Territories.
A Union Territory governed directly by the Centre through its Administrator, with no elected assembly or council of ministers; the President legislates for it by regulation under Article 240.
A joint military command in which Army, Navy and Air Force assets are placed under a single commander; the Andaman and Nicobar Command, operationalised in 2001, is India's only geographic one.