HVK Archives: Don't Prevaricate
Don't Prevaricate - The Times of India
Editorial
()
8 August 1996
Title : Don't Prevaricate
Author : Editorial
Publication : The Times of India
Date : August 8, 1996
Is the United Front government dragging its feet on the
jurisdiction of the proposed Lok Pal? It will be a
negation of the Common Minimum Programme and the values
espoused by the constituents of the UF if there is any
dilution of the Lok Pal Bill, leaving the Prime Minister
outside the Lok Pal's purview. The resolve to fight
corruption, particularly in high places, and take steps
to restore the confidence and credibility of the offices
and institutions of the state has been mouthed ad nauseam
by all political parties. Ale time has now come for
concrete action. Prime Minister Deve Gowda has done well
to offer his high office to the "scrutiny of Parliament,"
but that is not enough. Some members of the United Front
have, in fact, expressed themselves against the move to
bring the Prime Minister under the Lok Pal's
jurisdiction. Hopefully, legislative initiative on this
score will not be stymied by endless debate and
discussion, using the time-honoured subterfuge of
referring the entire issue to a select committee.
Repeated attempts to create the institution of a Lok Pal
since 1968 have come unstuck on the single issue of
whether to bring the Prime Minister's office within its
purview or not. While the political parties have
unfailingly emphasised the need for accountability and
transparency in public life, successive Prime Ministers
have always dithered on exposing their conduct in office
to public and judicial scrutiny. Regrettably,
notwithstanding their public protestations about fighting
corruption and intent to create an institutional
mechanism for it, the BJP and some other political
parties prevented effective action when they thwarted a
last-ditch attempt by the Narasimha Rao government to
bring forth a Bill on the Lok Pal towards the end of the
previous Lok Sabha's life.
Apart from the question of jurisdiction, the government
must also resolve the other tricky problem of equipping
the Lok Pal with teeth as well as eyes and ears. The
draft Bill should provide the Lok Pal with an independent
investigating agency, besides vesting in it the power to
launch prosecutions. Another issue that has exercised
the public is the illegal enrichment of persons in public
life, including political leaders and civil servants.
Both former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh and
the Bharatiya Janata Party have emphasised the value of
such persons declaring their assets from time to time.
Indeed, the BJP has tried to upstage the UF by directing
its members of Parliament to submit a declaration of
their assets to the party president, Mr L.K. Advani. To
lend further credibility to this move the BJP must ask
for declarations of assets by its ministers and
legislators in the states where it is in power. The
provision in the United Front's CMP requiring the M.P.s
to declare their assets annually to the Lok Pal is a
welcome commitment and the time has come for its
fulfilment. Unless the assets of spouses and children of
M.P.s and legislators are brought under public scrutiny,
and the ambit of the Lok Pal is expanded to include abuse
of power, gross misconduct and maladministration by those
holding public office, the objective behind the Bill will
remain unfulfilled There are no soft options in fighting
the canker of corruption, and the UF must come clean with
its intentions.
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