List of governors of Odisha

The governor of Odisha is the head of the Indian state of Odisha. The governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at central level. They exist in the state appointed by the president of India and they are not local to the state that they are appointed to govern. The factors based on which the president evaluates the candidates is not mentioned in the constitution. The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with the chief minister of the state and their council of ministers whereas they act as the nominal head. The current incumbent is Kambhampati Hari Babu since 3 January 2025. There are 36 governors if counted with 8 acting governors and 1 additional charge.

Governor of Odisha
Emblem of Odisha
Incumbent Kambhampati Hari Babu since 3 January 2025 (2025-01-03)
Style	His Excellency
Residence	Raj Bhavan, Bhubaneswar Raj Bhavan, Puri
Appointer	President of India
Term length	At the pleasure of the president
Inaugural holder	Kailash Nath Katju
Formation	15 August 1947; 78 years ago (1947-08-15)
Website	rajbhavanodisha.gov.in

List

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		Kailash Nath Katju (1887–1968)	Central Provinces and Berar	15 August 1947	20 June 1948[§][α]	310 days	Lord Mountbatten (Governor-General)
2		Asaf Ali (1888–1953)	United Provinces	21 June 1948	5 May 1951	2 years, 318 days
–		V. P. Menon CSI CIE (1893–1965) (Acting)	Madras State	6 May 1951	17 July 1951	72 days	Rajendra Prasad
(2)		Asaf Ali (1888–1953)	United Provinces	18 July 1951	6 June 1952	324 days
3		Justice (Retd) Saiyid Fazl Ali (1886–1959)	Bihar	7 June 1952	9 February 1954	1 year, 247 days
4		P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja (1898–1957)	Madras State	10 February 1954	11 September 1956	2 years, 214 days
5		Bhim Sen Sachar (1894–1978)	Punjab	12 September 1956	31 July 1957[§][β]	322 days
6		Yashwant Narayan Sukthankar CIE ICS (Retd) (1897–1973)	Bombay State	31 July 1957	15 September 1962	5 years, 46 days
7		Ajudhia Nath Khosla (1892–1984)	Punjab	16 September 1962	5 August 1966	3 years, 323 days	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
–		Justice Khaleel Ahmed (1907–?) Chief Justice, Orissa High Court (Acting)	Orissa	5 August 1966	11 September 1966	37 days
(7)		Ajudhia Nath Khosla (1892–1984)	Punjab	12 September 1966	30 January 1968	1 year, 140 days
8		Shaukatullah Shah Ansari (1908–1972)	Uttar Pradesh	31 January 1968	20 September 1971	3 years, 232 days	Zakir Husain
–		Jogendra Singh (1903–1979) (Acting)	Uttar Pradesh	20 September 1971	30 June 1972[§][γ]	284 days	V. V. Giri
–		Justice Gati Krushna Misra (d. 2009) Chief Justice, Orissa High Court (Acting)	Orissa	1 July 1972	8 November 1972	130 days
9		Basappa Danappa Jatti (1912–2002)	Karnataka	8 November 1972	20 August 1974[‡][δ]	1 year, 285 days
–		Justice Gati Krushna Misra (d. 2009) Chief Justice, Orissa High Court (Acting)	Orissa	21 August 1974	25 October 1974	65 days
10		Akbar Ali Khan (1899–1994)	Andhra Pradesh	25 October 1974	17 April 1976[‡]	1 year, 175 days	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
–		Justice Siba Narain Sankar (1915–?) Chief Justice, Orissa High Court (Acting)	Orissa	17 April 1976	7 February 1977	296 days
11		Harcharan Singh Brar (1922–2009)	Punjab	7 February 1977	22 September 1977[§][ε]	227 days
12		Bhagwat Dayal Sharma (1918–1993)	Haryana	23 September 1977	30 April 1980[§][ζ]	2 years, 220 days	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
13		C. M. Poonacha (1910–1990)	Karnataka	30 April 1980	30 September 1980	153 days
–		Justice Sukanta Kishore Ray (1918–2002) Chief Justice, Orissa High Court (Acting)	Orissa	1 October 1980	3 November 1980	33 days
(13)		C. M. Poonacha (1910–1990)	Karnataka	4 November 1980	24 June 1982	1 year, 232 days
–		Justice Ranganath Misra (1926–2012) Chief Justice, Orissa High Court (Acting)	Orissa	25 June 1982	31 August 1982	67 days
(13)		C. M. Poonacha (1910–1990)	Karnataka	1 September 1982	17 August 1983	350 days	Zail Singh
14		Bishambhar Nath Pande (1906–1998)	Uttar Pradesh	17 August 1983	20 November 1988[‡]	5 years, 95 days
–		Saiyid Nurul Hasan (1921–1993) Governor of West Bengal until 20 March 1989	Uttar Pradesh	20 November 1988	20 March 1989	1 year, 78 days	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
15				20 March 1989	6 February 1990[§][η]
16		Yagya Dutt Sharma (1922–1996)	Punjab	7 February 1990	1 February 1993[‡]	2 years, 360 days
–		Saiyid Nurul Hasan (1921–1993) Governor of West Bengal (Additional Charge)	Uttar Pradesh	1 February 1993	31 May 1993	119 days	Shankar Dayal Sharma
17		B. Satya Narayan Reddy (1927–2012)	Andhra Pradesh	1 June 1993	17 June 1995	2 years, 16 days
18		Gopala Ramanujam (1915–2001)	Tamil Nadu	18 June 1995	30 January 1997	1 year, 226 days
–		K. V. Raghunatha Reddy (1924–2002) Governor of West Bengal (Acting)	Andhra Pradesh	31 January 1997	12 February 1997	12 days
(18)		Gopala Ramanujam (1915–2001)	Tamil Nadu	13 February 1997	13 December 1997	303 days
–		K. V. Raghunatha Reddy (1924–2002) Governor of West Bengal (Additional Charge)	Andhra Pradesh	13 December 1997	27 April 1998	135 days	K. R. Narayanan
–		C. Rangarajan (born 1932) Governor of Andhra Pradesh (Additional Charge)	Tamil Nadu	27 April 1998	14 November 1999	1 year, 201 days
19		M. M. Rajendran IAS (Retd) (1935–2023)	Tamil Nadu	15 November 1999	17 November 2004	5 years, 2 days
20		Rameshwar Thakur (1925–2015)	Jharkhand	18 November 2004	21 August 2007[§][θ]	2 years, 276 days	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
21		Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare (1928–2024)	Maharashtra	21 August 2007	20 March 2013	5 years, 211 days	Pratibha Patil
22		S. C. Jamir (born 1931)	Nagaland	21 March 2013	20 March 2018	4 years, 364 days	Pranab Mukherjee
–		Satya Pal Malik (1946–2025) Governor of Bihar (Additional Charge)	Uttar Pradesh	21 March 2018	28 May 2018	68 days	Ram Nath Kovind
23		Ganeshi Lal (born 1941)	Haryana	29 May 2018	30 October 2023	5 years, 154 days
24		Raghubar Das (born 1955)	Jharkhand	31 October 2023	2 January 2025[‡]	1 year, 63 days	Droupadi Murmu
25		Kambhampati Hari Babu (born 1953)	Andhra Pradesh	3 January 2025	Incumbent	226 days

1. Transferred as the Governor of West Bengal
2. Transferred as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh
3. Transferred as the Governor of Rajasthan
4. Resigned to become the Vice President of India
5. Transferred as the Governor of Haryana
6. Transferred as the Governor of Madhya Pradesh
7. Transferred as the Governor of West Bengal
8. Transferred as the Governor of Karnataka

Timeline

Timeline of Odisha governors

See also

• Government of Odisha
• Governors of states of India
• List of governors of Bihar and Orissa Province
• List of current Indian governors

External links

• "Introduction". Raj Bhavan of Odisha. (Governor's Official Residence)