M. O. H. Farook

M. O. Hasan Farook Maricar (6 September 1937 – 26 January 2012) was an Indian politician and three-time Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Pondicherry. He was the youngest chief minister of any Union Territory of India. He served from 9 April 1967 to 6 March 1968 and 17 March 1969 to 3 January 1974 and from 1985 to 1990 He was thrice elected to the Lok Sabha from Pondicherry in 1991, 1996 and 1999 and served as a Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Tourism during June 1991 – December 1992.

Farook participated in the struggle for liberation of Pondicherry as a student, during 1953–54 when Pondicherry was a French colony and served as a Member of the Central Haj Committee in Mumbai from 1975 to 2000. He was appointed the Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in September 2004.

Farook was appointed Governor of Jharkhand in 2010 and of Kerala in 2011.

He died in office on 26 January 2012 at 9:10 pm at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, due to multiple myeloma and kidney related ailments. He was 74 years old at the time of his death. He was the second governor who died in office, after Sikander Bakht, and is the shortest-served governor of Kerala. He was hospitalised for more than a month, and his condition deteriorated in the days preceding his death. As he was near death, additional charge was given to the then Karnataka Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj. In his absence, the flag hoisting ceremony of Republic Day of India in Thiruvananthapuram was conducted by the then Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy. He was buried with full state honours at Puducherry Juma Masjid.