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AdmiralR H TahilianiPVSM, AVSM
6th Governor of Sikkim
In office 8 February 1990 – 20 September 1994
Appointed by	President of India (then, R. Venkataraman)
Chief Minister	Nar Bahadur Bhandari Sanchaman Limboo
Preceded by	S. K. Bhatnagar
Succeeded by	P. Shiv Shankar
28th Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee
In office 1 February 1986 – 30 November 1987
President	Zail Singh (Acting) R. Venkataraman
Prime Minister	Rajiv Gandhi
Preceded by	A. S. Vaidya
Succeeded by	Denis La Fontaine
11th Chief of the Naval Staff (India)
In office 1 December 1984 – 30 November 1987
President	Zail Singh R. Venkataraman
Prime Minister	Rajiv Gandhi
Preceded by	O. S. Dawson
Succeeded by	J. G. Nandkarni
Personal details
Born	(1930-05-12)12 May 1930
Died	14 October 2015(2015-10-14) (aged 85)
Spouse	Jaswanti Tahiliani
Children	2, including Tarun Tahiliani
Nickname(s)	Tally Ho Ram T
Military service
Allegiance	India
Branch/service	Indian Navy
Years of service	1950–1987
Rank	Admiral
Commands	Western Naval Command Southern Naval Command Western Fleet Goa Area INS Vikrant (1961) INS Trishul (1960)
Battles/wars	Liberation of Goa Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Awards	Param Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
Later work(s)	Chairman, Transparency International India Chairman, Balvantray Mehta Vidya Bhawan ASMA Board member, Transparency International

Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani, PVSM, AVSM (12 May 1930 – 14 October 2015) was a Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He served as the 11th Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 December 1984 until 30 November 1987. His prior commands included those as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-IN-C) of the Western Naval Command, FOC-IN-C of the Southern Naval Command and Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF). A carrier-based aircraft pilot, he also served as the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.

After retirement, Tahiliani served as the Governor of Sikkim from 1990 to 1994. He was a founder member and chairman of the India chapter of Transparency International (TI). He also served on the board of TI.

Naval career

Tahiliani was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 September 1950, and was confirmed as a sub-lieutenant on 17 May 1952. He joined the Indian Naval Air Arm and qualified as a pilot for carrier-based aircraft. He was a graduate of the Naval War College, United States and the National Defence College, New Delhi. He also qualified as a test pilot.

Promoted to lieutenant-commander on 16 July 1960, he was the first naval pilot to land an aircraft on the deck of INS Vikrant, when he landed his Hawker Sea Hawk fighter on 18 May 1961. He served as a carrier-based strike pilot on board INS Vikrant; following his promotion to captain on 31 December 1970, he commanded its carrier borne squadron during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. Later, he served as the commanding officer of INS Trishul (1960) and INS Vikrant.

Flag rank

Promoted to acting rear admiral on 30 December 1977, he was appointed Flag Officer, Goa Area (FOGA), with promotion to substantive rear admiral on 1 February 1978. Later, he was appointed the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF).

His next appointment was as Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (ACNS) at Naval Headquarters (NHQ). This was followed by appointment as the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS). He was promoted to Vice Admiral while in this office. In February 1982, then vice admiral, Tahiliani was appointed the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-IN-C) Southern Naval Command. In March 1983, he was appointed the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. In May 1984, he was appointed the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS).

On 1 December 1984, he took over as the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) of the Indian Navy. Tahiliani retired from the Indian Navy on 30 November 1987.

Later career

Tahiliani served as the Governor of Sikkim between 8 February 1990 and 20 September 1994.

He helped launch the India chapter of Transparency International as a founder member in 1997. He served as the chairman of the India chapter practically from its founding until 2010 and was chairperson of Balvantray Mehta Vidya Bhawan Anguridevi Shersingh, a senior secondary school located in the South District of New Delhi, India.

Tahiliani was elected to the board of Transparency International in 2002.

Personal life

Tahiliani was born into a Sindhi Hindu family, he was married to Jaswanti Tahiliani. His wife was the first female engineer in Mumbai. He is the father of noted Indian fashion designer, Tarun Tahiliani, and executive director of Ensemble India, Tina Tahiliani Parikh. He died on 14 October 2015.

Awards and decorations

Admiral Tahiliani was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal for his distinguished service.

References

1. "Balvantray Mehta Vidya Bhawan". BMVB ASMA. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
2. ^ "Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani, PVSM, AVSM". Information Resource Facilitation Centre, Indian Navy. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
3. "Press Brief - Admiral Rh Tahiliani (Retd) passes away". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
4. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)". The Gazette of India. 13 September 1952. p. 200.
5. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)". The Gazette of India. 5 December 1960. p. 322.
6. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)". The Gazette of India. 14 August 1970. p. 945.
7. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)". The Gazette of India. 24 June 1978. p. 620.
8. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)". The Gazette of India. 27 January 1979. p. 65.
9. "Organisation of Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence" (PDF). Indian Navy. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
10. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)". The Gazette of India. 9 March 1985. p. 327.
11. "TI's Annual General Meeting elects new board members from Zimbabwe, Argentina, UK and India". Transparency International. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
12. "Designs on the bride". India Today. 7 November 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
13. "Ex-Indian Navy Chief Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani passes away". 14 October 2015.

v t e Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (1947–2019)	Sir Rob Lockhart** Sir Thomas Elmhirst** Sir Edward Parry** K. M. Cariappa Sir Charles Pizey** Subroto Mukerjee Kodandera Subayya Thimayya Ram Dass Katari Aspy Engineer Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri Arjan Singh Adhar Kumar Chatterji Sam Manekshaw Gopal Gurunath Bewoor Om Prakash Mehra Sourendra Nath Kohli Tapishwar Narain Raina Hrushikesh Moolgavkar Jal Cursetji Om Prakash Malhotra Idris Hasan Latif Ronald Lynsdale Pereira K. V. Krishna Rao Dilbagh Singh Oscar Stanley Dawson Arun Shridhar Vaidya Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani Denis La Fontaine Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni Surinder Mehra Sunith Francis Rodrigues Laxminarayan Ramdas Bipin Chandra Joshi S. K. Kaul Vijai Singh Shekhawat Shankar Roychowdhury Satish Sareen Ved Prakash Malik Sushil Kumar Sundararajan Padmanabhan Madhvendra Singh Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy Nirmal Chander Vij Arun Prakash Shashindra Pal Tyagi Joginder Jaswant Singh Sureesh Mehta Deepak Kapoor Pradeep Vasant Naik Nirmal Kumar Verma Norman Anil Kumar Browne Bikram Singh Arup Raha Sunil Lanba Birender Singh Dhanoa Bipin Rawat
Chief of Defence Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2020–2021)	Bipin Rawat
Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2021–2022)	M. M. Naravane (acting)
Chief of Defence Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2022–)	Anil Chauhan
(**Seconded from the British Armed Forces)

v t e Chief of the Naval Staff of the Indian Navy
Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy (1947–1948)	John Talbot Savignac Hall**
Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy (1948-1950)	John Talbot Savignac Hall** Edward Parry**
Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy (1950-1955)	Edward Parry** Sir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey**
Chief of the Naval Staff (1955–present)	Sir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey** Sir Stephen Hope Carlill** Ram Dass Katari Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman Adhar Kumar Chatterji Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda Sourendra Nath Kohli Jal Cursetji Ronald Lynsdale Pereira Oscar Stanley Dawson Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni Laxminarayan Ramdas Vijai Singh Shekhawat Vishnu Bhagwat Sushil Kumar Madhvendra Singh Arun Prakash Sureesh Mehta Nirmal Kumar Verma Devendra Kumar Joshi Robin K. Dhowan Sunil Lanba Karambir Singh R. Hari Kumar Dinesh Kumar Tripathi (incumbent)
**Seconded from the Royal Navy

• 1930 births
• Chiefs of the Naval Staff (India)
• Vice chiefs of Naval Staff (India)
• Deputy chiefs of Naval Staff (India)
• Flag Officers Commanding Western Fleet
• Indian Navy admirals
• Governors of Sikkim
• 2015 deaths
• Indian Sindhi people
• Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal
• Indian naval aviators
• Naval War College alumni
• National Defence College, India alumni
• Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
• Sindhi Hindus