Sri Vijaya Puram | August 24, 2026
When people in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands remember Vakkom B. Purushothaman, they remember a former Lieutenant Governor whose tenure was closely associated with public administration and engagement with the Islanders.
Purushothaman served as the 6th Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from March 19, 1993, to March 18, 1996. Government records from the period document him functioning as Lieutenant Governor and Administrator of the Union Territory.
A Three-Year Tenure in the Islands
Purushothaman arrived in the Islands after a long political and administrative career in Kerala and Parliament. His tenure in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands came at a time when the Union Territory was dealing with the challenges of administering a geographically dispersed population spread across numerous islands.
During his tenure, official records show his involvement in matters concerning local governance, Panchayati Raj and administration.
In 1994, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands introduced the Panchayats Regulation, 1994, providing a framework for local self-government. During 1995, several notifications were issued under the new framework by Purushothaman in his capacity as Lieutenant Governor (Administrator). These included the constitution of Panchayat Samitis across areas including Diglipur, Mayabunder, Rangat, Ferrargunj, Port Blair, Little Andaman and Campbell Bay.
Other official notifications from March 1995 also show the administration under his tenure constituting Gram Sabhas across villages under the Panchayats framework.
A Governor Who Was Remembered for Public Contact
Accounts published after his death describe Purushothaman as an administrator who maintained a close connection with ordinary residents during his time in the Islands.
One retrospective account recalled that he regularly walked around Port Blair and interacted with residents, listening to their complaints and concerns. It also described his tenure as one in which he took a strong interest in the development of the Islands. These are retrospective accounts rather than official administrative records, and are therefore best understood as recollections of his time in office.
The former Lieutenant Governor was also remembered by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration after his death in 2023. In its condolence message, the then Lieutenant Governor described Purushothaman as an able administrator and reformer committed to the welfare, growth and progress of the Islands, and said Islanders would remember his affection for them.
An Administrator Associated With Development
Retrospective assessments of Purushothaman's career have also credited his tenure in the Islands with strengthening the Union Territory's development and tourism profile.
A later account described his tenure as Lieutenant Governor as a period in which he helped place the Islands more firmly on the tourism map.
However, individual claims about specific projects, inspections or decisions during his tenure require separate documentary verification and should not automatically be attributed to him without supporting records.
Beyond Andaman and Nicobar
Purushothaman's public career continued long after he left the Islands.
He subsequently served as Governor of Mizoram from 2011 to 2014 and briefly as Governor of Tripura in 2014. Earlier, he had served as a Member of Parliament, Kerala minister and Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
He died on July 31, 2023, aged 95.
Remembering the “Island” Chapter
For the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, however, his three-year tenure remains a distinct chapter in his long public career.
His period as Lieutenant Governor coincided with important developments in the Union Territory's local-governance framework, including the implementation of the 1994 Panchayats Regulation and the subsequent constitution of Panchayat institutions across different parts of the Islands.
The available records, together with later recollections from people familiar with his tenure, present a picture of an administrator whose time in the Islands combined governance, institutional development and public engagement.
For Islanders who remember that period, Vakkom Purushothaman's name remains connected not merely to the office he held, but to the relationship he was remembered as having built with the people of the Islands.
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