List of governors of Assam

This is a list of governors of Assam. The governor of Assam is the nominal head of the Indian state of Assam. The governor is appointed by the president of India. The current governor is Lakshman Acharya.

Governor of Assam
Emblem of Assam
Incumbent Lakshman Prasad Acharya since 30 July 2024
Style	His Excellency
Residence	Raj Bhawan, Guwahati
Appointer	President of India
Term length	At the pleasure of the president
Inaugural holder	Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari
Formation	15 August 1947; 77 years ago (1947-08-15)
Website	https://rajbhavan.assam.gov.in

Powers and functions

See also: Governors of India § Powers and functions

The governor has:

• Executive powers related to administration, appointments and removals
• Legislative powers related to lawmaking and the state legislature, that is Vidhan Sabha or Vidhan Parishad
• Discretionary powers to be carried out according to the discretion of the governor

Governors of Assam Province (1912–1947)

No.	Name	Took office	Left office
1	Archdale Earle	1912	3 January 1918
2	Nicholas Dodd Beatson-Bell	3 January 1918	3 April 1921
3	William Sinclair Marris	3 April 1921	10 October 1922
4	John Henry Kerr	10 October 1922	28 June 1927
5	Egbert Laurie Lucas Hammond	28 June 1927	11 May 1932
6	Michael Keane	11 May 1932	4 March 1937
7	Robert Niel Reid	4 March 1937	24 February 1938
8	Henry Joseph Twynam	24 February 1938	4 October 1939
9	Robert Niel Reid	4 October 1939	4 May 1942
10	Andrew Gourlay Clow	4 May 1942	4 April 1946
11	Frederick Chalmers Bourne	4 April 1946	4 September 1946
12	Henry Foley Knight	4 September 1946	23 December 1946
13	Andrew Gourlay Clow	23 December 1946	4 May 1947
14	Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari	4 May 1947	15 Aug 1947

Governors of Assam (1947–present)

Legend

• ^† Died in office
• ^§ Transferred
• ^‡ Resigned/removed

Color key

•    indicates acting/additional charge

#	Portrait	Name (born – died)	Home state	Tenure in office			Appointer (President)
				From	To	Time in office
1		Sir Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari KCIE CSI ICS (1894–1948)	Hyderabad	4 May 1947	28 December 1948[†]	1 year, 238 days	Lord Mountbatten (Governor-General)
–		Justice Sir Ronald Francis Lodge (1889–1960) Chief Justice, Assam High Court (Acting)	–	30 December 1948	15 February 1949	47 days	C. Rajagopalachari (Governor-General)
2		Sri Prakasa (1890–1971)	Uttar Pradesh	16 February 1949	26 May 1950	1 year, 99 days
3		Jairamdas Daulatram (1891–1979	Maharashtra	27 May 1950	14 May 1956	5 years, 353 days	Rajendra Prasad
4		Justice (Retd) Saiyid Fazl Ali (1886–1959)	Bihar	15 May 1956	22 August 1959[†]	3 years, 99 days
–		Justice Chandreswar Prasad Sinha Chief Justice, Assam High Court (Acting)	Bihar	23 August 1959	13 October 1959	51 days
5		General S. M. Shrinagesh (Retd) (1903–1977)	Maharashtra	14 October 1959	12 November 1960	1 year, 29 days
–		Vishnu Sahay ICS (1901–1989) (Acting)	Uttar Pradesh	12 November 1960	12 February 1961	92 days
(5)		General S. M. Shrinagesh (Retd) (1903–1977)	Maharashtra	13 February 1961	7 September 1962	1 year, 206 days
6		Vishnu Sahay ICS (Retd) (1901–1989)	Uttar Pradesh	8 September 1962[α]	16 April 1968	5 years, 221 days	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
7		Braj Kumar Nehru ICS (Retd) (1909–2001)	Uttar Pradesh	17 April 1968[β]	7 December 1970	2 years, 234 days	Zakir Husain
–		Justice Parbati Kumar Goswami (1913–1992) Chief Justice, Assam and Nagaland High Court (Acting)	Assam	8 December 1970	4 January 1971	27 days	V. V. Giri
(7)		Braj Kumar Nehru ICS (Retd) (1909–2001)	Uttar Pradesh	5 January 1971[γ]	18 September 1973	2 years, 256 days
8		Lallan Prasad Singh ICS (Retd) (1912–1998)	Bihar	19 September 1973[δ]	11 August 1981	7 years, 326 days
9		Prakash Mehrotra (1925–1988)	Uttar Pradesh	12 August 1981[ε]	28 March 1984[‡]	2 years, 229 days	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
–		Justice Tribeni Sahai Misra (1922–2005) Chief Justice, Gauhati High Court (Acting)	Uttar Pradesh	28 March 1984[ε]	15 April 1984	18 days	Zail Singh
10		Bhishma Narain Singh (1933–2018)	Bihar	15 April 1984[ε]	11 May 1989	5 years, 26 days
11		Hari Dev Joshi (1920–1995)	Rajasthan	10 May 1989[ε]	21 July 1989[‡]	72 days	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
–		Justice Anisetti Raghuvir (1929–2007) Chief Justice, Gauhati High Court (Acting)	Andhra Pradesh	27 July 1989	1 May 1990	278 days
12		Devi Das Thakur (1929–2007)	Jammu and Kashmir	2 May 1990	17 March 1991[‡]	319 days
13		Lokanath Misra (1921–2009)	Orissa	17 March 1991	1 September 1997	6 years, 168 days
14		Lieutenant General Srinivas Kumar Sinha (Retd) PVSM ADC (1926–2016)	Bihar	1 September 1997	21 April 2003[§][ζ]	5 years, 232 days	K. R. Narayanan
–		Arvind Dave IPS (Retd) (born 1940) Governor of Arunachal Pradesh (Additional Charge)	Uttar Pradesh	21 April 2003	5 June 2003	45 days	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
15		Lieutenant General Ajai Singh PVSM AVSM (1934–2023)	Rajasthan	5 June 2003	4 July 2008	5 years, 29 days
16		Shiv Charan Mathur (1927–2009)	Rajasthan	4 July 2008	25 June 2009[†]	356 days	Pratibha Patil
–		Kateekal Sankaranarayanan (1932–2022) Governor of Nagaland (Additional Charge)	Kerala	26 June 2009	26 July 2009[§][η]	30 days
17		Syed Sibtey Razi (1939–2022)	Uttar Pradesh	27 July 2009	10 December 2009	136 days
18		Janaki Ballabh Patnaik (1927–2015)	Odisha	11 December 2009	10 December 2014	4 years, 364 days
–		Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya (1931–2023) Governor of Nagaland (Additional Charge)	Karnataka	11 December 2014	21 August 2016	1 year, 254 days	Pranab Mukherjee
19		Banwarilal Purohit (born 1940)	Maharashtra	22 August 2016	9 October 2017[§][θ]	1 year, 48 days
20		Jagdish Mukhi (born 1942)	Delhi	10 October 2017	21 February 2023	5 years, 134 days	Ram Nath Kovind
21		Gulab Chand Kataria (born 1944)	Rajasthan	22 February 2023	29 July 2023[§][ι]	157 days	Droupadi Murmu
22		Lakshman Prasad Acharya (born 1954)	Uttar Pradesh	30 July 2024	Incumbent	363 days

1. Concurrently also served as the Governor of Nagaland (1963–1968)
2. Concurrently also served as the Governor of Nagaland (1968–1973)
3. Concurrently also served as the Governor of Meghalaya, Manipur, and Tripura (1972–1973)
4. Concurrently also served as the Governor of Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Tripura
5. Concurrently also served as the Governor of Meghalaya
6. Transferred as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir
7. Transferred as the Governor of Jharkhand
8. Transferred as the Governor of Tamil Nadu
9. Transferred as the Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh

See also

• History of Assam
• Chief Minister of Assam
• Governors of India