Shri T.K. Viswanathan was born on 14 October 1948, the Secretary General of the 15th Lok Sabha and Lok Sabha Secretariat, Parliament of India, i.e. the House of the People in the Indian Parliament (similar to the British House of Commons). As Secretary General, he is also the Administrative head of the Secretariat of the Lok Sabha. The post of Secretary General is of the rank of the Cabinet Secretary in the Government of India, who is the senior most civil servant to the Indian Government. The incumbent to the post is appointed by the Speaker of Lok Sabha in consultation with the Prime Minister of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. As per precedence, incumbents to the post of Secretary General have either been senior officers in the Lok Sabha Secretariat or senior civil servants in the Government of India. He was awarded Padma Shri by the President of India in the year 2017.