Apex court verdict on convicted legislators first big victory,they wait for more

So,yesterday,after years of dedicated work,the retired IAS officer tasted his biggest victory yet in the form of the SC verdict,which was “largely” a realisation of the promise he had made back then.

Lok Prahari,which had filed the petition in the case in 2005,was formed to take up similar case with “several senior retired civil servants,batch-mates and like-minded people” in 2003,when Shukla had retired as an IAS officer.

Apart from Shukla,10 other members were in the founding team,apart from three patrons,who include former Gujarat Governor and Chief Election Commissioner R K Trivedi. The founder members include top officials such as former Chairman of the Board of Revenue S Venkatramani,Former Secretary General of Rajya Sabha,R C Tripathi and P C Sharma,P D Chaturvedi and S K Agnihotri,all senior IAS officers. Former member,Board of Revenue,N M Majmudar is the NGO’s president.

“Numerous cases are filed but real progress is usually made only when an issue is raised through a PIL. So the idea of Lok Prahari was to work for the common man through PILs,” Majmudar said.

Over the years,Lok Prahari raised many key issues,some of which are still pending in various courts; such as in 2006,when,on the NGO’s petition,the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre,the states and the Union Territories to examine the scope and powers of the states to allot houses to former Chief Ministers,Ministers and other functionaries. The final hearing in the petition is pending.

“Lok Prahari is essentially a watchdog,” said member P D Chaturvedi,who retired from IAS in 1983. “In service,there was a lot of pressure and you could not speak freely,unlike after retirement,” he said.

The SC verdict came after an eight-year struggle for Shukla,who is hopeful that their hard work will not go waste.