"I believe in living for people"
THE Government of India has just
conferred the prestigious Padma Bhushan on crusader H.D.
Shourie at the grand young age of 87. It is an honour
that he richly deserves. After retiring from the I.A.S.,
he was not satisfied with leading a peaceful life,
pottering about the garden or writing his memoirs.
Instead, he plunged headlong into fighting for causes
which would, in some way, better the life of common
Indians. With sheer grit, he crossed innumerable hurdles.
Through Public Interest Litigation (PIL), he won many
landmark cases in the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court
and the National Commission for the causes he believed
in.
Some of the cases that he fought
for and won are making maintenance of accounts and
submission of income tax returns by political parties a
must, imposing a compensatory penalty on the Petroleum
Minister for illegal allotment of petrol pumps and gas
agencies, setting up of proper blood banks with licenses
and elimination of professional blood donors, fighting
against lawyers going on strike and making it mandatory
to open district consumer courts.
Belu Maheshwari met
the octogenarian at his West End residence in Delhi
recently where she found that Shourie has converted his
living quarters into an informal office for the society
that he runs. A soft-spoken person with perfect manners,
he hardly showed signs of ageing.
According to Shourie, he
gets scores of letters and phone calls every day from
people seeking help. One person rung up while the
interview was in progress to request him to fight for the
notification of the Rent Control Act. Shourie asked him
to write to the Urban Development Minister. The caller
wanted to know the name of the minister and his address.
Shourie replied gently that every citizen should be aware
and help in his own way to fight for causes. But he did
give the caller the ministers address.
Excerpts from the
interview:
What is your reaction
to the Padma Bhushan being conferred on you?
I am a person who has
never solicited awards. If the government has recognised
the work, maybe others will feel encouraged to take up
social work. I welcome it in this context. Thank you.
What are your earliest
memories?
I had a normal childhood.
We belonged to Batala, but later shifted to Lahore. I
joined the Punjab Civil Service and was the City
Magistrate, Lahore, till the last day of Partition. I
remember reading The Tribune since childhood. Its
cost was one anna and a mustached man use to
deliver it to our house in Lahore.
Had you envisioned the
Partition before August 1947?
I had never imagined the
country would be partitioned. The Unionist government was
doing a fairly good job of maintaining communal peace --
they were latter manipulated into submission. There was
no animosity between the Hindus and Muslims of Punjab.
Even when the Radcliffe Commission was set up, we thought
it was just a governmental exercise. Only 20 days before
Partition, I sent my family in my small car to Jalandhar
to my in-laws house. I left Lahore on the night of
August 13. We had a Shourie Building on Nishfath Road,
Lahore. I drove from there to the station to catch the
Frontier Mail.
Were the riots
spontaneous or managed by political parties?
Jinnah had spread communal
hatred. I remember there was a Muslim City Magistrate
along with me in Lahore. One day, I got a message that he
was beating up Hindus of an area. I verified this and
rung up the Commissioner, who immediately relieved him of
the charge. The holocaust was unthinkable. I have seen
the sky-line of Amritsar lit with flames. It is difficult
to say who was responsible, but it was tragic.
You were a part of the
relief operations which must have been a gigantic task.
I was appointed DC of
Relief and Rehabilitation, Punjab. I toured the whole
state and set up camps at 45 places. We asked the Army to
provide tents and went to Jalandhar jail to find out
about the system of rations. On the basis of that, we
issued rations to refugees. The common people helped a
lot, we worked on a war-footing.
How were the
politicians those days? Was Kairon a dictator?
Unlike today, bureaucrats
then had a lot of freedom. We could freely advise
ministers. Once three MPs came to ask a favour (those
days granting of evacuee land was a big job). I threw the
paper back at them because it was unethical. Kairon
called me and said gently, "Say no, but do not throw
papers".
Another incident which
comes to mind concerns Nehru. He visited Kurukshetra,
which had the biggest refugee camp. Before he arrived
about 500 agitationists led by Vikram Sarabhais
sister lay on the G.T. Road to draw attention to their
demands. I thought I would definitely be in for trouble.
Nehru got down from his car and started walking between
the gaps. In a playful manner, he tapped them and said,
Get up, talk. Whats your problem? All
of them immediately got up. The moment passed and Nehru
did not criticise the officers.
When did you retire?
I worked in various
capacities, including as Director, Industries, Punjab,
Director-General, National Productivity Council and
Indian Institute of Trade. After this, I was posted as
Commissioner-General at Tokyo and Trade Adviser at
Geneva. I worked even after retirement.
How did Common Cause
get off to a start?
I had read the name Common
Cause. Its the name of a lobbyist organisation in the
USA. It fascinated me. I borrowed the name, even though I
do not have any link with them. In 1980, an order came to
my notice discriminating between pensioners who retired
before April 79 and after. I pointed out the
discrepancy to the officials, wrote letters to the
editors of most newspapers listing the problem and asked
pensioners to write back. I received 12,000 letters which
I sent to the PM. Ifiled a writ petition and won the case
in the Supreme Court. Two-and-a-half lakh people
benefited from this. After this, causes kept happening
and I kept getting embroiled into more and more work.
Where does the money to
fight cases come from?
I cannot collect money. We
depend on membership and now we have now more than 5,000
members who give a subscription. We have kept our
overheads low. I have been operating from my house.
Recently Vikram Lal of Eicher has helped a seven-storey
structure to come up at Vasant Kunj. I want a person of
dedication, knowledge and experience who (someone who
wants no remuneration) can take over. I am getting on in
years.
Have you faced problems
during your crusades?
No. No one has tried to
stop me. The problems are from within the minds of the
people. They cannot get out of their fear and rise to
bring changes. This problem of people not participating
in democracy bothers me.
How did the movement,
Common Cause, evolve?
Where is the movement?
What movement are you talking about? Some people feel
about certain issues or causes and we decide to fight.
Yes, some people help out but their number is limited.
That means that Cause
is person-centric. Dont you want to
institutionalise it?
In the sense that I am
totally involved in its work and it was started by me, it
is person-centric. But people have helped. Institutions
like the judiciary or the Press have played major roles.
The Press is very powerful and it has been very
supportive.
I am getting on in age and
would definitely like others who are like-minded to take
over from me.
There are hundreds of
retired persons who want to keep themselves occupied and
seek a sense of purpose. What advice can you give them?
India is facing many
serious problems. They should identify problems of their
area, locality,or biradari and try to solve them.
I have written a pamphlet My Heart Bleeds as
a response to the state of my country. Why dont
people do something to help uplift the masses? Every hand
matters, every brain is needed because the problems are
truly mind-boggling.
What are you fighting
for these days?
Identifying the causes is
an ongoing process. We have filed a writ in the Supreme
Court to fix accountability of those who have written off
Rs 43,000 crore as non-performing assets of banks. How
did this happen? Why isnt someone accountable?
Non-banking finance
companies should be made more accountable. There are
30,000 companies which have embezzled the peoples
money. More control should be imposed on them. We are
further fighting for speedy legal redressal by opening of
lok adalats.
What are your other
hobbies?
Ihardly get time for
anything else. Otherwise, I love painting. Now I take
more than three months to finish one. Ihave a column in a
newspaper, I take out a journal of Common Cause and,
earlier, I used to do photography.
You are a proud father
of three high-profile, talented children. How much do
they help you or vice versa?
(With pride writ large on
the face and a smile on the lips) Arun Shourie lives
upstairs. He is busy writing and doing his work. For his
book on Ambedkar, a case has been slammed on him. Deepak
made a success of Outlook, which he started. He is
now Executive Director of The Hindustan Times. He lives
at the back of the house. Nalini Singh, my daughter,
lives in her house and is busy with her TVproduction. We
are there for each other but otherwise we do not
interfere in each others work.
What has been your
guiding principle in life? Do you have any regrets?
There has been no
philosophy. I have been a very down-to-earth person and
have tackled problems as and when they arose. I believe
in living for people. I feel jab jana ho aaram se jao.
I believe in voluntary exit from life. The book by David
Humphrey, Final Exit, has left a deep
impact on me. I am today completely satisfied. Ihave
lived a full life and there are no regrets.
Common Cause
OMMON cause, a registered
Society with membership of about 5,000 and
operating on all-India basis, has earned
reputation and credibility as an organisation
dedicated to public causes for seeking redress
for problems of the people. It has been laying
emphasis on taking up common and collective
problem of the people, but a large number of
individual problems of aggrieved citizens are
also referred to it. The collective problems are
taken to courts.
Some of the
important decision secured from the Supreme
Court, Delhi High Court, and the National
Commission, are:
Elections and
political parties: A recent important
decision secured from the Supreme Court has been
on the subject of non-maintenance of accounts by
political parties and challenge to existing
provisions whereunder expenditure incurred by
political parties during elections was not taken
into account in relation to the expenditure
incurred by candidate on his election. The
Supreme Court has directed the Government of
India to take action against the defaulting
officials of the Income Tax department who did
not take action against political parties for
non-submission of their income tax returns. The
more important aspect of the decision is that the
expenditure incurred by a political party in the
constituency of candidate had now to be clubbed
together with the expenditure incurred by the
candidate, which would disqualify the candidate
if the total expenditure exceeds the prescribed
limit. This decision has widely affected all
recent elections in the country.
Corruption:
An important writ petition was filed in the
Supreme Court on the general subject of
corruption prevailing in the country, emphasising
the importance and requirement of establishing
the institution of Ombudsman. An off-shoot of
this important case, relating to unscrupulous
allotment of petrol pumps and gas agencies to
important persons and their relatives, has
resulted in a very important decision of imposing
a compensatory penalty of huge amount of Rs 50
lakh on the former Petroleum Minister who has
been held responsible for the illegal and
unconstitutional allotment of petrol pumps to
persons not eligible for such allotment.
Pensions:
This case in fact was the first important matter
taken up by the organisation which brought about
decision from the Supreme Court benefiting about
four million pensioners all over the country. It
arose from pension liberalisation which was
effected in 1979 by the Government of India for
its pensioners. The liberalisation was not
extended to those who had retired earlier then
1.4.1979. The Court held that there cannot be any
distinction between one pensioner and another,
with the result that the liberalisation got
extended to about two and a half million Central
Government pensioners. Thereafter it was extended
to all pensioners of state governments, benefits
about four million pensioners.
Lawyers
strikes: Strikes by lawyers seriously
aggravate the problems of clients and disposal of
cases by courts. The matter was taken to the
Supreme Court by the organisation. The Supreme
Court directed that if the lawyers ever go on
strike, their bar associations will not prevent
any lawyer from going to the courts of law. This
decision has had a salutary effect. At some
places where lawyers have been prevented from
going to attend their courts, contempt
proceedings have been initiated against the
functionaries of bar associations.
Blood Banks:
There are over 1000 blood banks in the country.
Most of them were reported to be functioning
unsatisfactorily. Their accommodation was
unhygienic, equipment antiquated and
unsatisfactory, their procedures indicative of
malfunctioning. More than 600 of these blood
banks were unlicensed. Most of the blood banks of
the country have been dependent of professional
donors who are often the poor people from the
streets. These matters came to light in a report
prepared by an organisation commissioned by the
Government of India. Based on this report Common
cause took the matter to the Supreme Court. It
directed the Government of India and state
governments to set up appropriate organisations
at the national and state level to ensure that
all blood banks are licensed within a period of
one year. Licensing of blood banks, after careful
scrutiny of their eligibility, has now been
practically completed, and organisations have
been formed in accordance with Supreme Court
directive. Steps are being taken for elimination
of professional blood donors.
Consumer
"Courts": Under a law passed in
December 1986. Know as Consumer Protection Act it
was made mandatory that in every district of the
country there should be a consumer
"Court" where consumers could complain
about defects and deficiencies in products and
services, and claim compensation. In the first
three years consumer "Courts" were
established only in about 30 districts. There are
514 districts in the country. It was feared,
therefore, that it might take a century for the
consumer courts to be established in all district
of the country. The matter was taken to the
Supreme Court by the organisation, impleading the
Government of India and all states governments in
it. The Supreme Court, threatening contempt of
court proceedings against defaulting officers of
state governments, got the consumer
"Courts" got established in all
district of the country within a period of about
six months.
Besides, Common
Cause has secured relief in cases relating to
unauthorised colonies in Delhi Property Tax,
MPs pensions, iodized salt and strikes by
bank and Air India employees.
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