P. Shiv Shankar passes away

India lost a man of rare intellectual, political and legal luminance with the passing away of former Union minister P. Shiv Shanker here on Monday, aged 87.

Shiv Shanker rose from humble beginnings to achieving success in every profession he practiced with his hard work and commitment.

Born in a backward caste family in 1927, the second of 11 siblings, Shiv Shanker worked as a salesman in a cloth showroom along with his elder brother to support his family.

He however ran away from home with his elder brother, the duo landing in Amritsar as ticketless travellers.

The brothers joined the Hindu College in Amritsar where Shiv Shanker pursued his B.A. LLB (Hons) while selling and polishing shoes at the local railway station in the evenings.

During this time, his elder brother died of starvation in Amritsar. Shiv Shanker had no money to perform the cremation, let alone send the body home. The body was taken away by the Amritsar Municipal Corporation.

After completing Law, he returned to Hyderabad and started practice.

In 1972, he was appointed judge of AP High Court, one of the youngest Judges in the country. However, he resigned from the post within a year, becoming the first judge in the country to do so. He later used to tell his friends that even if he had gone on to become the Chief Justice of the High Court, it would have been only for a brief period.

He started practicing as an advocate, mostly in the Supreme Court and partly in the AP High Court.

It was during this period that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was facing several cases and commissions of Enquiries for her role during the Emer- gency, first came to know about Shiv Shanker and entrusted him the responsibility of defending her.

After the death of his second son P. Sudheer Kumar in 2002, Shiv Shankar distanced himself from active politics, but continued to play an advisory role in the Praja Rajyam party launched by actor-politician K. Chiranjeevi.

Shiv Shanker was accused of communalising politics for his support to Kapu movement, especially his encour- agement to slain Kapu leader from Vijayawada, Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga Rao.

There were allegations by TD leaders that Vangaveeti Ranga took shelter in the official residence of Shiv Shanker in Delhi after the murder of Devineni Murali.

According to his elder son, P. Vinay Kumar, cremation will take place on Tuesday in the Old City on a plot of land owned by the family.

Shiv Shanker is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.