Arif Mohammad Khan was sworn in as the 24th Governor of Kerala at a solemn function held at the Raj Bhavan here on Friday.

Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy administered the oath of office to Khan in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, at 11 am. The new Governor’s wife Reshma Arif was also present

In a break from custom, Khan chose to take the oath of office first in Malayalam followed by English much to the surprise of those present. His predecessors had followed the tradition of taking the oath in English alone.

Ministers A K Balan, K T Jaleel, E P Jayarajan, Kadakampally Surendran, M M Mani, J Mecykutty Amma, K Raju, Ramachandran Kadannappally, T P Ramakrishnan, K K Shailaja Teacher, TM Thomas Issac and Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala were among those present to greet the Governor.