Bengaluru: J.C. Lynn passed away at 9:30pm (Thursday 15th April) at St. Philomena's Hospital where he had been in the ICU for the past 10 days battling  a COPD exacerbation from which he has been suffering these last few years.  

J.C. Lynn (IAS retd) served a Chief Secretary to the Govt of Karnataka between 1992 and 1994. In a career spanning 34 years, he held several important positions in the State and Central Governments. He had served as Secretary to three Chief Ministers, Veerendra Patil, D. Deveraj Urs and briefly of R. Gundu Rao holding the post for ten years. He also held the posts of Home and Industries Secretaries to the Govt of Karnataka, before being appointed Chairman of Karnataka Road Transport Corporation KSRTC and simultaneously as Chairman of the KSTDC, before being posted to Delhi, where he served in the Departments of Coal and Personnel before being appointed Chairman of the Food Corporation of India in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.

He was recalled to serve as Chief secretary to the Government of Karnataka by Chief Minister Veerappa Moily in 1992 until his retirement from service in December 1994. After his retirement he was appointed as the first Ombudsman of the RBI in Karnataka, a post he held till 1998. J.C. Lynn is widely regarded as an officer of impeccable integrity, who set high standards and was well respected by members of all the Civil Services, especially during his tenure as Establishment Officer in the Ministry of Personnel, Govt of India between 1988 to 1990, where his policies on criteria for selection to key bureaucratic posts became  the norm for promotions and  appointments to top management of PSUs and the selection of personnel on Central deputation.  As KSRTC Chairman between 1981 and 1983 he expanded the Transport network by sanctioning the building of bus stations in remote areas as well as the construction of the Subhas Nagar Bus Terminus opposite City Station. 

As the Secretary to Devaraj Urs in the 1970s he was instrumental in setting up the Somanahalli leper project in association with the Archbishop of Bangalore. This was after the lepers had made a fervent representation before the Chief Minister.  He played an important role in establishing Bangalore on the IT map of India, first as Industries Secretary in 1983-84 and then as Chief Secretary between  1992 to 1994. J.C. Lynn was a proud Bangalorean, who was the first student of St. Joseph's Boys high school to enter the Civil Services in Independent India in 1960. He had been a brilliant student in school holding an unbroken  record of 617 out of 700 in the Senior Cambridge examination of 1952 which remained unchallenged until the school adopted a new examination system.

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Dubai, Feb 19 (PTI): India vice-captain Shubman Gill on Wednesday dethroned Babar Azam of Pakistan from the No. 1 spot in the ICC ODI Rankings for batters on the back of his strong show against England in the recent home series.

The ICC issued the latest rankings just ahead of the start of the eight-team Champions Trophy in Karachi with the match between Pakistan and New Zealand.

“India right-hander Shubman Gill overtakes former Pakistan captain Babar Azam to become the top ranked ODI batter in the world,” the ICC said.

Gill, who scored two fifties and a century in the recent three-match ODI series against England at home which India won 3-0, jumped one place to the No. 1 spot. He now has 796 rating points compared to Babar’s 773.

India skipper Rohit Sharma is placed at the third spot with 761 points followed by South Africa’s Henrich Klaasen and New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell at fourth and fifth respectively.

“It's a major shake-up at the top of the rankings just prior to the start of the Champions Trophy and leaves an interesting sub-plot to what will transpire over the coming weeks during the eight-team tournament in Pakistan and Dubai,” the ICC said.

“This is the second time Gill has held the No.1 ranking in ODI cricket, with the India batter having also gone past Babar to claim top spot midway through the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in 2023.

“Gill has been in excellent form of late, with his century against England in Ahmedabad during the third ODI of the recently concluded series enough to catapult the 25-year-old to the top of the rankings,” the global governing body added.

Sri Lanka’s Maheesh Theekshana, meanwhile, has taken the first position in the ODI rankings for bowlers as he replaced Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan.

“While Sri Lanka won't be featuring at the Champions Trophy, Theekshana earned the top spot following his exploits against the Aussies that included an excellent four-wicket haul in the opening match of that series in Colombo,” the ICC said.

Sri Lanka had recently handed a 2-0 whitewash to Australia with Theekshana taking four wickets.

The Sri Lankan spinner has 680 rating points, followed by Rashid at second, Namibia’s Bernard Scholtz at third, India’s Kuldeep Yadav at fourth and Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi at fifth.

“Meanwhile, Afghan spin wizard Rashid drops to second and will be keen to regain the No.1 spot as he trails his Sri Lankan counterpart by just 11 rating points,” the ICC said.

“While a trio of spinners in India's squad Kuldeep Yadav (up one place to fourth), South Africa's Keshav Maharaj (re-enters the rankings in sixth) and New Zealand's Mitchell Santner (up four rungs to seventh) are all inside the top 10 after making ground this week."

Afghanistan veteran Mohammad Nabi remains the top ranked all-rounder in ODIs, followed by Sikandar Raza, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Rashid.