Rudrabatla Venkata Surya Peri Sastri was a former

Chief Election Commissioner of India The Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections. An election commissioner is appointed by the President of India on the recommendatio ...

and served from 1 January 1986 until his death from cancer on 25 November 1990. The 1989 general elections were held during his tenure. Born at Bhimilipatnam in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

on 1 February 1929, Peri Sastri obtained a master's degree in English from the Madras Christian College under the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

. Thereafter, he taught at Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh and Raipur, in erstwhile Madhya Pradesh, before enrolling for a BCL degree at the Faculty of Law,

University of Delhi The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. He completed his BCL and L.LM from Delhi and also taught at the university. In 1956-57, he joined the Law Commission of India as a Junior Law Officer and moved thereafter to the Law Ministry, Government of India. He held various positions in the Law ministry, and rose to the post of Secretary to the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

in 1978. Peri Sastri was principal legislative draftsman of the Government of India for several years. He drafted several amendments to the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

and many epochal bills including the Road Corporations of India Act of 1950,The Road Corporations of India Act, 1950.
/ref> The Sugar Development Fund Act, 1982 and Delhi Sales Tax Act, 1975. During Peri Sastri's tenure as Chief Election Commissioner, the Government of India made the first effort to convert the commission into a multi-member body by appointing two election commissioners on the eve of the 1989 General election. This move was widely described as an attempt to curtail the powers of Peri Sastri, who refused to be browbeaten by the Government on the timing or conduct of the election, as described by former

Comptroller and Auditor General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. F ...

C G Somiah C, or c, is the third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C ...

in his book The Honest Always Stand Alone. During the tenure of

Dinesh Goswami Dinesh Goswami was an Indian politician. He was the Law and Justice Minister under the V.P.Singh government in 1989. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from the Gauhati constituency in 1985.He was also a me ...

as Law Minister in the government of

Vishwanath Pratap Singh Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008) was an Indian politician who served as the prime minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the Raja Bahadur of Manda. He was educated at Allahabad University and Fergusson College in ...

, Peri Sastri recommended wide-ranging electoral reforms. The voting age was reduced to 18 during his tenure as Chief Election Commissioner. Also, the first steps towards use of Electronic Voting Machines were taken during his term.

References

External links

List of former C.E.C.s of India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peri Sastri, R. V. S. Chief election commissioners of India Telugu people Madras Christian College alumni University of Madras alumni