Author: PTI
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 30, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/342211/Govt-backtracks-on-giving-teeth-to-Lokpal.html
Sharp differences came to the surface at a
meeting of the drafting committee for Lokpal bill today with the government
strongly opposing proposals for inclusion of Prime Minister, higher judiciary
and acts MPs inside Parliament under its purview.
Anna Hazare, one of the members of the committee,
who is spearheading the campaign for a strong and effective Lokpal bill, said
that he was not hopeful of the government meeting its deadline of June 30
for preparing the bill.
At the meeting held under the Chairmanship
of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, contentious issues came up for discussion
in the committee for the first time.
Arvind Kejriwal and Prasahant Bhushan, both
civil society members of the committee, said except on one issue of keeping
citizen charter and public grievances under the jurisdiction of Lokpal, the
government opposed the demands for bringing the Prime Minister, higher judiciary
and the corrupt acts of MPs inside Parliament under the ambit of the Lokpal.
They said the government's proposals today
were "worse" than what it had proposed in its first bill, which
had been "condemned and rejected".
Kejriwal said even the latest bill of the
government had kept Prime Minister under the purview of Lokpal but the government
has gone back on it.
As no agreement could be reached between them
today,the government has decided to write to states and political parties
to seek their opinion on these "issues of divergence" and get back
to them at the next meeting on June 6.
Sibal said there was need to take the view
of the states since Lokayukts have to be appointed there.
Bhushan said the government representatives
told them that bringing the Prime Minister under Lokpal's purview would make
him 'dysfunctional'.
He pointed out that the government's bill
itself had a provision for bringing Prime Minister under the Lokpal and even
now he was not beyond the purview of investigation on corruption issues.
"We only wanted that he comes under the
purview of an independent agency instead of the agencies that come under the
government which results in conflict of interest," Bhushan said.
Kejriwal also rued "Prime Minister wants
to be investigated by an agency like CBI, which is under him but not by an
independent agency."
Besides Mukherjee, those who attended the
meeting from the government side were Ministers P Chidambaram (Home), Sibal
(Law), Salman Khurshid (Minority Affairs) and M Veerappa Moily (Law).
From the civil society side, those present
were Hazare, Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, Kejriwal and Santosh Hegde.
While the civil society members wanted the
Lokpal to have powers to investigate corruption cases against the entire bureaucracy
irrespective of its hierarchy, the government was of the view that it should
confine to officers of Joint Secretary level and above.
On the issue of investigating corruption cases
against the MPs, the government said that it has no objection to the Lokpal
investigating corruption issues involving them outside Parliament but opposed
the proposal to allow Lokpal to investigate the acts of corruption by the
MPs inside Parliament.
The government also wanted that the defence
personnel should be kept out of the purview of the bill, Kejriwal said.
He added that the government also held the
view that the offices of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and CBI should not be
merged with Lokpal.
The civil society members, however, rejected
the government's contentions and expressed dismay at its response.
"There were too many fundamental differences
on the bill today," said Kejriwal adding the government wanted "self
regulation" to take care of the issue of corruption in higher judiciary
and the acts of MPs inside Parliament.
"We told them that self regulation has
not worked in the last sixty years."
Bhushan said "the response of the government
was not very reasonable on all the issues. We were a bit disappointed by the
response of the ministers. This whole concept of self-regulation does not
work."
Asked whether he is hopeful of an early resolution
on these contentious issues, Kejriwal merely said "let us see and wait
what happens".
Sibal, however, expressed confidence that
the bill for a strong and effective Lokpal will be a reality. "We must
provide the country with a transparent legislation as corruption is an issue
which concerns everybody. We remain committed to provide the people an effective
Lokpal."
Asked what will be the guiding principle of
the government in drafting the bill amid so much differences, Sibal stressed
"the guiding principle is that the Constitution is supreme. Any Lokpall
bill must be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution."
Kejriwal, however, said if keeping everything
like judiciary, PM and MPs violate the Constitution then what will come under
the Lokpal's ambit.
He said that a decision has now been taken
to seek public opinion on these contentious issues on website and seek their
suggestions.
It was decided that the joint drafting committee
will meet twice on June 6 and 10.
