Former cabinet secretary TRS Subramanian passes away, PM Modi condoles death

Former cabinet minister TRS Subramanian. (File)

Former cabinet secretary TRS Subramanian breathed his last Monday morning. The 79-year-old was a 1961- batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. Subramanian served as the cabinet secretary from 1996 to 1998.

Subramanian worked hard to protect the bureaucracy from political interference. He was part of a group of bureaucrats that filed a PIL seeking directions from the Supreme Court for insulating bureaucracy from political interference following which the Supreme Court rolled out key civil services reforms in 2013. “This is a landmark judgment. Public servants are not private servants,” Subramanian had said.

Subramanian was also the founder member and former Chancellor of the Shiv Nadar University. He held directorships for a few companies as well as HCL and SABMiller.

He wrote several books on India and governance. “India at Turning Point: The Road to Good Governance”, “GovernMint In India: An Inside View” and “Journeys Through Babudom and Netaland: Governance in India” are the few books he wrote.

Condolences poured in as the news was tweeted out by the IAS association. The cause of the death and other details were not immediately known. The IAS association said the cremation will take place at the Lodhi Road crematorium in Delhi at 5.30 pm.

“Extremely shocked to hear the sad news of the demise of T S R Subramanian. He was the tallest amongst all and is a big loss for the IAS fraternity and the nation. Deepest condolences to all family members. We hope and pray that your ideas and thoughts will continue to guide us,” the IAS association said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences saying he had left his mark with his writings and interventions on public causes.

“Shri TSR Subramanian distinguished himself as an outstanding civil servant. He also left a mark with his prolific writings and interventions on important public causes. Saddened by his demise. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends,” the PM tweeted.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh also joined the prime minister in condoling his death.

“Former Cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian is no more. Saddened by the news. He was affable, full of ideas and energetic. In many a debate on TV channels, shared thoughts with him. Condolences to his family and his fraternity,” Sitharaman said.

Jitendra Singh said he was saddened by the news of Subramanian’s demise and sent his condolences to the entire IAS fraternity and the family. Adding a poetic note, Anil Swarup, secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, said: “Bichde sab bari bari (all left one by one).” “One of the most outstanding officers, T S R Subramanian is no more. Rest in Peace. RIP,” he said on Twitter.

 

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