KOCHI: Christy Fernandez, who served as secretary to former President Pratibha Patil, passed away at a private hospital in Kochi on Monday. He was 73. Fernandez, a native of Clappana in Kollam, also worked under PM Narendra Modi while the latter was serving as the Gujarat chief minister.
A 1973-batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer, Fernandez served as the principal secretary of urban development in Gujarat, special secretary in the Union Commerce Ministry, and secretary in the Tourism Ministry. He was also chairman and MD of several public sector companies. Post retirement, Fernandez served as chairman of the KSIDC (Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation) and SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India).
He was also a member of the JB Koshy Commission constituted to look into the socio- economic and educational issues faced by Christian minorities in Kerala. In 2014, he contested as an LDF-backed independent candidate from the Ernakulam LS constituency but lost to former union minister K V Thomas. He is survived by wife Chachimma (Karikattukunnel), daughter Leona and son Joseph. The hospital said Fernandez breathed his last by 12.22am on Monday.
Currently in the mortuary, his body will kept at his residence in Kaloor on Tuesday from 9am to 6pm for the public to pay homage. Later, the mortal remains will be taken to his ancestral house at Clappana by evening. The funeral will be held at 11.30am on Wednesday at the cemetery of St George’s Church in Clappana.