Nilakanta Mahadeva Ayyar CIE (18 May 1899 to 29 March 1971) was a member of the erstwhile Indian Civil Service.

Early life and education

He was born at

Nagercoil Nagercoil, also spelt as Nagarkovil ("Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an ...

in a Tamil

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

family on 18 May 1899 as the eldest of twelve children of Rao Bahadur Mahadeva Nilakanta Ayyar (an executive engineer ). He was educated at the Presidency College in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and later at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. His younger brothers included Prof N.A.Subramanian, an advocate specializing in Constitutional Law and Vice Admiral

Nilakanta Krishnan Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan, PVSM, DSC (8 June 1919 – 30 January 1982), was a former flag officer in the Indian Navy. He was the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. Born in a re ...

Administrator

Mahadeva Ayyar joined the ICS cadre in October 1922. He was initially posted in Bengal as assistant magistrate and collector and subsequently rose to the post of sub-divisional officer in 1924. From 1925 to 1927 he served the Finance Department of the Government of India as assistant collector of customs at Calcutta and Madras. In 1928 Ayyar was appointed as magistrate and collector of Bengal. From 1936 to 1942 he served as deputy secretary to the Industries and Labour Department, and then as the first chairman of the Coal Mines Stowing Board in 1939. In 1943 he served for a term as director and secretary of Civil Supplies, Government of Bengal, and then as Provincial Transport Commissioner. In 1947, after Independence he was appointed the first Indian chairman of the commissioners for the Port of Calcutta. While serving as the chairman, Coal Mining Stowing Board, Ayyar was awarded Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE)in 1941 and later Honorary Lieutenant Colonel. In 1952 he was appointed secretary to the Transport Ministry, Government of India.

Death

Ayyar retired in 1958 and died in Bangalore in 1971. He was survived by two daughters and a son.

References

1. India Office list of civil servants in the Indian Civil Services issued by the India office, at London. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayyar, Nilakanta Mahadeva People from Kanyakumari district Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire 1899 births Presidency College, Chennai alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge 1971 deaths Indian Civil Service (British India) officers