EMINENT Admin Team
20 Dec

Governors of Bihar – Complete Chronological Table (BPSC Focus)

Before Independence (1936–1947)

No.NameFromToRemarks
1Sir James David Sifton1 Apr 193610 Mar 1937First Governor of Bihar (separated province)
2Sir Maurice Garnier Hallett11 Mar 193715 May 1938
Sir Thomas A. Stewart (Acting)15 May 193816 Sep 1938Acting Governor
2Sir Maurice Garnier Hallett17 Sep 19385 Aug 1939Second term
3Sir Thomas Alexander Stewart6 Aug 19392 Feb 1943
4Sir Thomas George Rutherford3 Feb 19436 Sep 1943
Sir Francis Mudie (Acting)7 Sep 194323 Apr 1944Acting Governor
4Sir Thomas George Rutherford24 Apr 194412 May 1946Second term
5Sir Hugh Dow13 May 194614 Aug 1947Last British Governor

After Independence (1947–Present)

No.NameFromToRemarks
1Jairamdas Daulatram15 Aug 194711 Jan 1948First Indian Governor
2Madhav Shrihari Aney12 Jan 194814 Jun 1952
3R. R. Diwakar15 Jun 19525 Jul 1957
4Zakir Husain6 Jul 195711 May 1962Later President of India
5M. A. Ayyangar12 May 19626 Dec 1967
6Nityanand Kanungo7 Dec 196720 Jan 1971
Justice U. N. Sinha (Acting)21 Jan 197131 Jan 1971Acting
7Dev Kant Baruah1 Feb 19714 Feb 1973
8R. D. Bhandare4 Feb 197315 Jun 1976
9Jagannath Kaushal16 Jun 197631 Jan 1979
Justice K. B. N. Singh (Acting)31 Jan 197919 Sep 1979Acting
10Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai20 Sep 197915 Mar 1985Two non-consecutive terms
11P. Venkatasubbaiah15 Mar 198525 Feb 1988
12Govind Narain Singh26 Feb 198824 Jan 1989
Justice Dipak Kumar Sen (Acting)24 Jan 198928 Jan 1989Acting
13R. D. Pradhan29 Jan 19892 Feb 1989Shortest tenure
14Jagannath Pahadia3 Mar 19892 Feb 1990
Justice G. G. Sohoni (Acting)2 Feb 199016 Feb 1990Acting
15Mohammad Saleem16 Feb 199013 Feb 1991
B. Satya Narayan Reddy (Acting)14 Feb 199118 Mar 1991Acting
16Mohammad Shafi Qureshi19 Mar 199113 Aug 1993
10Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai14 Aug 199326 Apr 1998Second term
17Sunder Singh Bhandari27 Apr 199815 Mar 1999
Justice B. M. Lall (Acting)15 Mar 19995 Oct 1999Acting
Suraj Bhan (Addl. Charge)6 Oct 199922 Nov 1999Additional charge
18V. C. Pande23 Nov 199912 Jun 2003
19M. R. Jois12 Jun 200331 Oct 2004
Ved Prakash Marwah (Acting)1 Nov 20044 Nov 2004Acting
20Buta Singh5 Nov 200429 Jan 2006
21Gopalkrishna Gandhi31 Jan 200621 Jun 2006
22R. S. Gavai22 Jun 20069 Jul 2008
23R. L. Bhatia10 Jul 200828 Jun 2009
24Devanand Konwar29 Jun 200921 Mar 2013
25D. Y. Patil22 Mar 201326 Nov 2014
Keshari Nath Tripathi (Addl.)27 Nov 201415 Aug 2015Additional charge
26Ram Nath Kovind16 Aug 201520 Jun 2017Later President of India
Keshari Nath Tripathi (Addl.)20 Jun 201729 Sep 2017Additional charge
27Satya Pal Malik30 Sep 201723 Aug 2018
28Lalji Tandon23 Aug 201828 Jul 2019
29Phagu Chauhan29 Jul 201913 Feb 2023
30Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar14 Feb 20231 Jan 2025Transferred to Kerala
31Arif Mohammad Khan2 Jan 2025IncumbentCurrent Governor

Exam Pointers:

  • First Governor of Bihar: Sir James David Sifton
  • First Indian Governor: Jairamdas Daulatram
  • Governor who became President: Zakir Husain, Ram Nath Kovind
  • Current Governor (2025): *Arif Mohammad Khan
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