For the day-to-day management of the Foundation, the Central Government appoints a Secretary who is responsible to the Chairman of the Governing Board.
The Secretary is a high-level officer from the Indian Administrative Service or a similar organisation. The Secretary lives in Auroville.
On Monday, June 13, 2016, Mr. Mohan
Verghese Chunkath I.A.S. (retd.) joined the Auroville Foundation as its
Secretary. His term of office is three years.
Mr. Chunkath was born in Thrissur, Kerala,
on March 10, 1956. He holds a post-graduate degree in Zoology. He belongs to
the 1978 batch of IAS officers.
As Additional Chief Secretary, Mr. Chunkath
was heading the Tamil Nadu State Department of Environment and Forests since
December 2012. He was later posted as Chief Secretary in May 2014 and held this post
till December, 2014. Later he became the Additional Chief Secretary / Director,
Anna Institute of Management and Director General of Training. He retired from
this position on March 31, 2016.
Mr. Chunkath has held various positions
including that of Collector of Dharmapuri district and Secretary in charge of
Higher Education Department. As the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Tamil
Nadu Energy Development Agency from January 2008 to May 2009, he identified
solar energy as an area to be promoted vigorously. He served as an Independent
Non Executive Director of Seshasayee Paper and Boards Ltd., since February 2,
2013 until July 2014. He was ex-officio Director of Tamil Nadu Water Investment
Company Limited, nominee director of the Tamil Nadu Forest Plantation
Corporation Ltd., ex-officio Director of the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development
Corporation Ltd. and ex-officio Director of Adyar Poonga.
Mr. Chunkath is a well-known Scrabble©
player and he has won many tournaments.
Three years ago, his publication Nature Rambles (Mover Books) was released
by the former Chairman of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation, Dr.
M. S. Swaminathan who hailed him for showcasing urban biodiversity heritage
through just 200 examples of the variety of nature in Chennai.
Mr. Chunkath and his wife Mrs. Sheela Rani
Chunkath (who was then Additional Chief Secretary TN and Managing Director of
the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation, now retired), were the
Chief Guests at the presentation in Auroville of the book Economics for People and Earth – The Auroville case 1968-2008
authored by Prof. Dr. Henk Thomas from The Netherlands and Chartered Accountant
Manuel Thomas, on October 2nd, 2013.
Mr. Chunkath was welcomed in an open
reception on Tuesday June 21st at the Unity Pavilion.
Previous secretaries were:
Mr. N. Bala Bhaskar, I.A.S.
Mr. M. Ramaswamy, I.A.S.
Mr. S.R. Sharma, I.A.S.
Mr. N. Bala Bhaskar, I.A.S.
Dr. S.C. De, I.P.S.
Mr. L.K. Tripathy, I.A.S.
