My tenure in Government spanning over 46 years, had been full of episodes, of which the one on “Casinos” was already published in the columns of this newspaper. This second one revolves around Mr T.N. Seshan, a 1955 batch IAS Officer of Tamil Nadu Cadre, who rose up the as the Chief Election Commissioner of India.
While the public at large was enamoured by his achievements in cleansing the electoral system, hardly few would be aware of the flip side of his personality. He was often found to be arrogant, nasty, rude, and haughty in his conduct and behavior towards the subordinate civil servants generally. A number of senior officers who came in contact with this gentleman in their official dealings fell victims to his traits.
So far as Goa is concerned, two officers, the late B.S. Subanna and “yours truly” were at the receiving end of his tantrums. Sometime in 1992, Subanna who was the Law Secretary and Additional Chief Electoral Officer, was deputed by the State Government to attend the Conference of Chief Electoral Officers convened by the CEC. This was because, P.S. Bhatnagar who was the Chief Secretary and Chief Electoral Officer, was unable to attend the conference.
The conference in Delhi started with Mr Seshan, like a school headmaster, taking the roll call and doing the head count with pointed question “Who are you” . The moment Mr Subanna introduced himself as the Law Secretary and Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Goa, Mr Seshan shouted “out”. Taking courage Mr Subanna tried to explain as to why the Chief Secretary was unable to make it. But the ‘Headmaster’ would have nothing of it and yelled “out” even louder. Seeing M. Subanna still not prepared to leave, Mr Seshan gestured to the support staff to escort Mr Subanna out. One of them politely and quietly told Mr Subanna to leave before the boss physically threw him out. It is not for nothing that in bureaucratic circles in Delhi, Mr Seshan was often referred to, in hush hush tone, as “ Al-Seshan or Alsatian”.
“Yours truly” had a bitter taste of his medicine for absolutely no fault of his. I was Director of Tourism, Goa between Sept.1990 and April 1999. P.V. Jayakrishnan was the Chief Secretary Goa between March 1988 and March 1992. He had just returned from one of his official trip to Delhi and he told that some guests of Mr Seshan – 5 to 6 students – would be in Goa from and would require cheap but decent accommodation. Being students, I thought Youth Hostel at Miramar would be the best option. After getting his nod, I met Mr Kulkarni, the Youth Hostel Warden. He was kind enough to block the guest room.
On 24th December around 10 p.m. the receptionist at Yatri Niwas (now Miramar Residency) put me through Ms Suhasini, one of the guests of Mr Seshan. After exchanging pleasantries, I told Ms Suhasini that the receptionist would guide them to Youth Hostel. However, to my surprise, she said they did not like the accommodation and would be happy to stay at Yatri Niwas. Since no accommodation was available at Yatri Niwas, Ms Suhasini opted to stay in any hotel for the night. With great difficulty, I managed to get them two rooms at Hotel Manoshanti.
After midnight we were woken up by a long ring tone. My wife late Shobhana, answered the call. Mr Seshan ordered my wife to wake me up. When I was on the line, Mr Seshan yelled and blasted me for the mess I had done of the accommodation? When I explained that since they did not like Youth Hostel, at their request, I managed to accommodate them for the night in a private hotel of repute.
Before his nasty bombards at me, Mr Seshan had apparently tried to contact the Chief Secretary. This was evident from his next salvo as to where that “bloody Jayakrishnan” was roaming at night? to which my response was that he might have gone for some social. Before switching off, Mr Seshan gave me an ultimatum that if his guests were not shifted to Government accommodation there and then, he would talk to Ravi Naik, the then Chief Minister and Bhanu Prakash Singh, the then Governor and place me under suspension. I told him point blank to please go ahead.
The maid servant at the residence of the Chief Secretary confided that Mr. & Mrs. Jayakrishnan had gone for Christmas Eve. I told the maid to inform the boss to contact me whatever time he was back. Mr. Jayakrishnan woke me up at around 2.30 a.m., when I narrated to him the whole episode, including the bloody abuses directed at him.
The following morning, I went to the Youth Hostel, to find out as to why Ms Suhasini and company had not liked the accommodation, only to be told by Mr Kulkarni the Warden, that all five of them (2 boys + 3 girls) wanted to stay together in the guest room which he had reserved for girls only, and since the Youth Hostel rules would not permit. Later, by noon, I managed to shift them to Yatri Niwas.
Before leaving, Ms Suhasini profusely apologized to me for the acts of commission and omission of their godfather Mr. Seshan. When I inquired as to how she was related to Mr Seshan, she disclosed that she happened to be the daughter of Subramanium Swamy and Mr Seshan was their family friend. It is of interest to narrate here that at the relevant time, Subramanium Swamy was the Union Minister of Law and Justice in the Government headed by the late Chandra Shekhar, and as a result of his friendship with Mr Seshan, the status of the Chief Election Commissioner which was that of a High Court Judge, was, through an ordinance, upgraded to that of a Supreme Court Judge.
(The author is O.S.D to Commissioner for NRI Affairs.)
