Tuesday, June 28 2005 22:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Describing consumer activist H D Shourie as an "important symbol of organised intervention by civil society", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Jun 28, 2005) said he belonged to a rare breed of individuals who placed public interest above everything else.

Expressing grief over the death of Shourie, Singh said, "He strove relentlessly to safeguard and promote the rights of the consumers and used public interest litigation, advocacy and other tools imaginatively towards this end."

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said Shourie was a highly public-spirited citizen, a crusader against corruption and an ardent champion of consumer rights in the country.

Shourie, father of former Union Minister Arun Shourie and founder of NGO 'Common Cause', died in New Delhi this morning at the age of 93.