List of current Indian lieutenant governors and administrators

Lieutenant Governors and Administrators
Lieutenant Governors and Administrators
Appointer	President of India

Last updated February 01, 2026

In the Republic of India, a lieutenant governor is the constitutional head of five of the eight union territories. They rank 11th in the order of precedence in India. The lieutenant governor is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years, and holds office at the President's pleasure. Like the way the governors of Indian states may not have 5 years term and is seen very rarely the same thing happens with them. Since the union territories of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry have a measure of self-government with an elected legislature and council of ministers, the role of the lieutenant governor there is mostly a ceremonial one, akin to that of a state's governor. In Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Ladakh however, the lieutenant governor holds more power, being both the head of state and head of government.

The other three union territories—Chandigarh; Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu; and Lakshadweep—are governed by an administrator. Unlike the lieutenant governors of other territories, they are usually drawn from the retired officer from Indian Armed Forces, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or Indian Police Service (IPS). Since 1985 the Governor of Punjab has also been the ex-officio Administrator of Chandigarh.

Praful Khoda Patel, till date, is the only administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu who is not an armed forces officer or a civil servant (i.e. IAS or IPS), rather a politician. He was also given the additional charge of Lakshadweep after the death of Dineshwar Sharma.

List of incumbent lieutenant governors and administrators

Union territory	List	Lieutenant Governor	Assumed office	Tenure	Appointer
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	List	Devendra Kumar Joshi	8 October 2017	8 years, 110 days	Ram Nath Kovind
Delhi	List	Vinai Kumar Saxena	26 May 2022	3 years, 245 days	Ram Nath Kovind
Jammu and Kashmir	List	Manoj Sinha	7 August 2020	5 years, 172 days	Ram Nath Kovind
Ladakh	List	Kavinder Gupta	18 July 2025	192 days	Droupadi Murmu
Puducherry	List	Kuniyil Kailashnathan	7 August 2024 (1 year, 178 days)	1 year, 172 days	Droupadi Murmu

Union territory	List	Administrator	Assumed office	Tenure	Appointer
Chandigarh	List	Gulab Chand Kataria	31 July 2024	1 year, 179 days	Droupadi Murmu
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	List	Praful Khoda Patel	26 January 2020	6 years, 6 days	Ram Nath Kovind
Lakshadweep	List	Praful Khoda Patel (additional charge)	5 December 2020	5 years, 58 days	Ram Nath Kovind