Delhi gets new lieutenant governor: Who is Vinai Kumar Saxena?

Saxena will succeeded Anil Baijal, who resigned due to ‘personal reasons’ on May 18. Currently, the former serves as the chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.

Vinai Kumar Saxena will be the new lieutenant governor of Delhi, President Ram Nath Kovind's office announced on Monday. “The President of India has been pleased to appoint Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena to be the Lt. Governor of National Capital Territory of Delhi with effect from the date he assumes charge of his duties," Ajay Kumar Singh, the President's press secretary, said in a statement.

New Delhi L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena (File Photo)

“The President of India has accepted the resignation of Shri Anil Baijal as Lt. Governor National Capital Territory of Delhi,” the statement further stated.

Baijal, the Union territory's twenty-first LG, resigned on May 18 citing ‘personal reasons.’

Here's a brief profile of the new Delhi L-G:

(1.) Saxena is the current chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, an organisation under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

(2.) He was born on March 23, 1958, and is a Kanpur University alumnus with a Pilot license.

(4.) In 1984, Vinay Kumar Saxena joined the well-known JK Group in Rajasthan as an assistant officer. In the group's white cement plant in the state, he worked for 11 years in various capacities.

(5.) In 1991, he founded the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), a non-profit NGO with its headquarters in Ahmedabad. NCCL is recognised by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

(6.) The NCCL opposed social activist Medha Patkar and her Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) in their attempts to stop construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat.

(with PTI inputs)