8 yrs on,SC verdict their first big victory

WHEN the Supreme Court Wednesday struck down Section 84 of the Peoples Representation Act,1951 which means that the MPs and MLAs will be disqualified as soon as they are convicted a promise that a man had made to himself 54 years ago was fulfilled.

WHEN the Supreme Court Wednesday struck down Section 84 of the Peoples Representation Act,1951 which means that the MPs and MLAs will be disqualified as soon as they are convicted a promise that a man had made to himself 54 years ago was fulfilled.

Satya Narain Shukla,general secretary of NGO Lok Prahari,which was the petitioner in the case,is more than 70 years old. It was a day in 1959 that I had returned to my home in Jalaun after appearing for my intermediate examinations in Kanpur. At home,I spoke to God and promised myself that if I am selected in administrative services,Ill work for the common man, Shukla said. So, Wednesday,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.

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

Besides Shukla,10 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 are former Chairperson 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 NGOs president.

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

Over the years,Lok Prahari has raised many key issues.

Lok Prahari is essentially a watchdog, said member P D Chaturvedi,who retired from the IAS in 1983. In service,you could not speak freely,unlike after retirement, he said.

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The SC verdict came after an eight-year struggle for Shukla.

Lok Praharis other cases

A petition,for which the final date of hearing has been postponed thrice this year,against the allotment of government bungalows to ex-Chief Ministers and other non-eligible organisations

Under the previous Mayawati government,officials,including the Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh,used to sign papers on her behalf,while there was no authorisation empowering them for the same, Shukla said. The petition is pending with the High Court

Petitions for improvement in criminal justice system and against pension and perks to ex-MPs and non-members are also pending