T. S. Krishnamurthy

Taruvai Subayya Krishnamurthy (born 1941) is a former Indian Revenue Service officer and was the Chief Election Commissioner (C.E.C) of India (February 2004 - May 2005). His main assignment as C.E.C was to oversee the 2004 elections to the Lok Sabha. He was known for his integrity and a polite yet firm fist with which he handled all sensitive assignments throughout his career.
He had earlier served in the Election Commission of India as a commissioner since January 2000.

Krishnamurthy started his career as an Indian Revenue Service officer. He served the government at various levels including as Secretary, Department of Company Affairs. He was the first Indian Revenue Service officer to become a Secretary to the Government of India as well as the Chief Election Commissioner of India.

As Secretary, Department of Company Affairs, he is credited with setting up of Investor Education and Protection Fund set up from unclaimed dividends of companies.

Krishnamurthy started his career as a probationary officer at the Bank of India (prior to nationalization) at the age of 19. He joined the Indian Revenue Service in the batch of 1963, subsequent to which he was posted as Income Tax Officer in Madras. Having served number of ministries in New Delhi including Shipping and Finance, he was deputed as a Deputy General Manager with the Hindustan Shipyard Limited in Visakhapatnam. One of the key jobs he has handled was that of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in Bombay.

He also served as an IMF advisor in Ethiopia and Georgia. As Chief Election Commissioner he was an observer to the elections in Zimbabwe and the U.S Presidential Elections in 2004. In 2005, Krishnamurthy was appointed by the Supreme Court of India to conduct the elections to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (B.C.C.I) in order to ensure free and fair polls amidst the different factions within the BCCI.

Krishnamurthy hails from Taruvai village in Tirunelveli district. He was born and brought up in Tiruchirapalli and went on to study high school at Baroda. He went on to study at St Joseph's college in Bangalore. Krishnamurthy won gold medals in History, Economics and Political Science at Mysore University. He also completed a Masters in Fiscal Studies from the University of Bath, U.K.

Post his retirement, he is a board member of various companies and NGOs, most notably, he was the Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai Kendra. He is the author of the book "Miracles of Democracy", published in August 2008.

Krishnamurthy is married to Geetha Krishnamurthy, an accomplished veena artiste from Chennai. His son Karthik & daughter-in-law Anasuya live in London while his daughter Nanditha and son-in-law Srikanth Parmeshwararan Ayyar live in Chennai.