Firebrand former municipal chief Tinaikar passes away

Former municipal commissioner Sadashiv S. Tinaikar (78) died on Saturday at Jaslok Hospital. Tinaikar had been suffering from a lung and liver infection and was unconscious for the last few days.

Former municipal commissioner Sadashiv S. Tinaikar (78) died on Saturday at Jaslok Hospital. Tinaikar had been suffering from a lung and liver infection and was unconscious for the last few days.

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Tinaikar, a 1956 batch IAS officer was known as a firebrand officer during his tenure.

“He was a fearless and no nonsense officer. He was my batchmate. We were five officers selected in the Maharashtra cadre. Out of the five, J.B. Kanga, Tinaikar and I became municipal commissioners of Mumbai,”said former Municipal Commissioner D.M. Sukthankar. Tinaikar was municipal commissioner of Mumbai from 1986-90. During his tenure as the commissioner, he fought with the then mayor Manohar Joshi over the jurisdiction of powers of the commissioner and the mayor. He did not allow Joshi to interfere in the administration's work.

A known Sena baiter, Tinaikar was invited by the Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray for a corporators' training programme organised by the party.

Even after his retirement, he was a severe critic of the civic body’s financial management and often termed it as financial ‘mismanagement’.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had appointed Tinaikar to head a probe into the functioning of the Sena-BJP in the civic body after which he indicted several corporators and highlighted a number of irregularities in the body.

He also advised commissioners to cut down on establishment costs and other frills enjoyed by the elected representatives, so that more projects for the betterment of the city could be undertaken.

He is survived by his wife and four sons. He was cremated at Chandanwadi crematorium on Saturday night.