'That was a difference of opinion, deeply saddened by his demise'; Tikaram Meena mourns death of TH Mustafa

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 'There was only an official difference of opinion with TH Mustafa. Nothing personal. Deeply saddened by his demise...', said Tikaram Meena, former Additional Chief Secretary and former Chief Electoral Officer, who has been involved in political activity in Rajasthan after retiring from a career in the civil service of three-and-a-half decades.

In 1992, Director of Civil Supplies, Tikaram Meena had to clash with the then Food Minister, TH Mustafa. Meena opposed the minister's move to central government's subsidy for wheat to private millers in Kerala. Although Meena remained in office for only seven months, the friction with Mustafa who was the most loyal ally of leader K. Karunakaran was not small. ACR (Annual Confidential Report), which is very important for civil servants had very bad records against Meena.

The Food Minister has suggested that the wheat allocated by the Center at subsidized rates through ration shops can be given to private millers and converted into flour and broken wheat. But Meena from the farming family took the position that the millers will also get the profit and therefore the proposal cannot be allowed. The rule is that this cannot be allowed without the permission of the legislative assembly. This angered Mustafa and Chief Minister K. Karunakaran. But Meena was not ready to change his stance. In addition, actions were also taken to collect Rs 4 crores from the millers as sales tax on the wheat supplied. The government was not ready to remove the negative remarks written in Meena's ACR despite the intervention of organization of IAS officers. These remarks were removed after the EK Nayanar government came to power in 1996. Meena said that all this is normal in official life and now paying tributes to him.