List of lieutenant governors of Puducherry

Puducherry (formerly known as "Pondicherry") is a Union Territory of India. Governance and administration of the territory fall under the federal authority.

Predecessor

List of chief governing officers

Commissioners

#NameTook officeLeft officeNotes1François Caron166816722François Baron167216813François Martin1681November 16934Dutch occupationSeptember 1693September 1699Treaty of Ryswick (1697)

Governors

In the days of the French East India Company, the title of the top official was most of the time Governor of Pondicherry and General Commander of the French settlements in the East Indies (). After 1816, it was Governor of French establishments in India ().

#NameTook officeLeft officeNotes1François MartinSeptember 169931 December 17062Pierre DulivierJanuary 1707July 1708Acting3Guillaume André d'Hébert170817124Pierre Dulivier171317155Guillaume André d'Hébert171517186Pierre André Prévost de La PrévostièreAugust 171811 October 17217Pierre Christoph Le Noir17211723Acting8Joseph Beauvollier de Courchant172317269Pierre Christoph Le Noir1727173410Pierre Benoît Dumas1735174111Joseph François Dupleix14 January 174215 October 175412Charles Godeheu15 October 17541754Acting13Georges Duval de Leyrit1756175814Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally1758January 176115First British occupation15 January 176125 June 1765Treaty of Paris (1763)16Jean Law de Lauriston1765176617Antoine Boyellau17661767Acting18Jean Law de Lauriston1767January 177719Guillaume de BellecombeJanuary 1777177820Second British occupation17781783Treaty of Paris (1783)21Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau1783178522François de Souillac1785178523David Charpentier de CossignyOctober 1785178724Thomas ConwayOctober 1787178925Camille Charles Leclerc, Chevalier de Fresne1789179226Dominique Prosper de ChermontNovember 1792179327L. Leroux de Touffreville1793179328Third British occupation23 August 179318 June 1802Treaty of Amiens (1802)29Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen18 June 1802August 180330Louis Binot1803180331Fourth British occupationAugust 180326 September 1816Treaty of Paris (1814)32Comte Dupuy26 September 1816October 182533Joseph Cordier, Marie EmmanuelOctober 182519 June 1826Acting34Eugène Desbassayns de Richemont18262 August 182835Joseph Cordier, Marie Emmanuel2 August 182811 April 1829Acting36Auguste Jacques Nicolas Peureux de Mélay11 April 18293 May 183537Hubert Jean Victor, Marquis de Saint-Simon3 May 1835April 184038Paul de Nourquer du CamperApril 1840184439Louis Pujol1844184940Hyacinthe Marie de Lalande de Calan1849185041Philippe Achille Bédier1851185242Raymond de Saint-MaurAugust 1852April 185743Alexandre Durand d'UbrayeApril 1857January 186344Napoléon Joseph Louis BontempsJanuary 1863June 187145Antoine-Léonce MichauxJune 1871November 187146Pierre Aristide FaronNovember 1871187547Adolph Joseph Antoine Trillard1875187848Léonce LaugierFebruary 1879April 188149Théodore Drouhet1881October 188450Étienne RichaudOctober 1884188651Édouard Manès1886188852Georges Jules Piquet1888188953Louis Hippolyte Marie Nouet1889189154Léon Émile Clément-Thomas1891189655Louis Jean Girod1896February 189856François Pierre RodierFebruary 189811 January 190257Louis Pelletan11 January 190211 January 1902Acting58Victor Louis Marie Lanrezac1902190459Philema LemaireAugust 1904April 190560Joseph Pascal FrançoisApril 1905October 190661Gabriel Louis AngoulvantOctober 19063 December 190762Adrien Jules Jean Bonhoure1908190963Ernest Fernand Lévecque19099 July 191064Alfred Albert Martineau9 July 1910July 191165Pierre Louis Alfred DupratJuly 1911November 191366Alfred Albert MartineauNovember 191329 June 191867Pierre Étienne Clayssen29 June 191821 February 1919Acting68Louis Martial Innocent Gerbinis21 February 191911 February 192669Henri Léo Eugène Lagroua11 February 19265 August 1926Acting70Pierre Jean Henri Didelot1926192871Robert Paul Marie de Guise1928193172François Adrien Juvanon1931193473Léon SolomiacAugust 1934193674Horace Valentin Crocicchia1936193875Louis Alexis Étienne Bonvin26 September 1938194576Nicolas Ernest Marie Maurice Jeandin1945194677Charles François Marie Baron20 March 194620 August 1947

French India became an Overseas territory () of France in 1946.

Commissioners

#NameTook officeLeft office1Charles François Marie Baron20 August 1947May 19492Charles ChambonMay 194931 July 19503André Ménard31 July 1950October 19544Georges EscargueilOctober 19541 November 1954

French India de facto transferred to the Republic of India in 1954.

High Commissioners

The first High Commissioner, Kewal Singh was appointed immediately after the Kizhoor referendum on 21 October 1954 as per Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1947. The Chief Commissioner had the powers of the former French commissioner, but was under the direct control of the Union Government.

The list of Chief Commissioners is given below Name Took office Left office 1 21 October 1954 16 November 1956 2 17 November 1956 27 August 1958 3 30 August 1958 8 February 1961 4 2 May 1961 1 August 1963 5 2 August 196313 October 1963

Chief Commissioner (1954 1963)

Name Took office Left office 1 circa 1947 November 1949 2 31 November 1949 June 1950 3 10 June 1950 circa October 1953 4 circa October 1953 21 October 1954

After the de facto transfer of French settlements in India, on November 1, 1954, a Chief Commissioner, appointed by Government of India, replaced the last Commissioner of French India, Georges Escargueil. The first High Commissioner, Kewal Singh was appointed immediately after the Kizhoor referendum, on 21 October 1954, as per Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1947. The Chief Commissioner had the powers of the former French commissioner, but was under the direct control of the Union Government.

The list of Chief Commissioners is given below.

NamePortrait Took office Left office De jure sovereignty De facto sovereignty 1 21 October 1954 16 November 1956FranceFranceIndia 2 17 November 1956 27 August 1958India 3 30 August 1958 8 February 1961 4 2 May 1961 1 August 1963FranceIndia 5 2 August 1963 13 October 1963India

List of Lieutenant Governors (1963-present)

The Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry resides at the Raj Nivas () at the Nehru Park, the former palace of the Governor General of French India. The Central government is more directly involved in the financial well-being of the territory.

Only five Lt. Governors managed to serve more than four years. They are S.L. Silam, B.D.Jatti, B.T. Kulkarni, Rajani Rai and Kiran Bedi. Only S.L. Silam completed his 5-year term. Kiran Bedi is second longest serving Lt. Governor till date. The list of Lt. Governors of Puducherry is given below.

Portrait Lieutenant Governor Took office Left office DurationAppointed By 1 14 Oct 1963 13 Oct 1968 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 2 14 Oct 1968 7 Nov 1972 Zakir Hussain 3 8 Nov 1972 29 Aug 1976 V. V. Giri 4 30 Aug 1976 31 Oct 1980 Fakruddin Ali Ahmed 5 1 Nov 1980 15 Apr 1981 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy 6 (Additional charge) 16 Apr 1981 26 Jul 1981 7 27 Jul 1981 14 May 1982 8 15 May 1982 5 Aug 1983 9 2 Sep 1983 17 Jun 1984 Giani Zail Singh 10 (Additional charge) 18 Jun 1984 30 Sep 1984 11 1 Oct 1984 21 Jun 1988 12 22 Jun 1988 19 Feb 1990 Ramaswamy Venkataraman 13 19 Feb 1990 18 Dec 1990 14 19 Dec 1990 05 Feb 1993 15 (Additional charge) 06 Feb 1993 31 May 1993 Shankar Dayal Sharma 16 (Additional charge) 31 May 1993 1 May 1995 17 2 May 1995 22 Apr 1998 18 23 Apr 1998 29 Jul 2002 K. R. Narayanan 19 31 Jul 2002 27 Oct 2003 A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 20 (Additional charge) 27 Oct 2003 5 Jan 2004 21 5 Jan 2004 6 Jul 2004 22 7 Jul 2004 18 Jul 2006 23 19 Jul 2006 12 Mar 2008 24 15 Mar 2008 22 Jul 2008 Pratibha Patil 25 23 Jul 2008 6 Apr 2009 26 9 Apr 2009 27 Jul 2009 27 27 Jul 2009 9 Jul 2013 28 10 Jul 2013 11 Jul 2014 Pranab Mukherjee 29 12 Jul 2014 26 May 2016 30 28 May 2016 16 Feb 2021 31(Additional charge)18 Feb 202118 March 2024 Ram Nath Kovind 32 C.P. Radhakrishnan (Additional charge) 20 March 2024 6 August 2024 134 daysDroupadi Murmu33 Kuniyil Kailashnathan7 August 2024Incumbent

List of lieutenant governors of Puducherry

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