Committed to strong Lokpal, looks for broad national consensus: PM

Mangalore Today / NDTV

New Delhi, August 20:  Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has said that the government wants a strong and effective Lokpal, but said it would like a broad national consensus to emerge on the issue.

 

"We have presented a Lokpal Bill in Parliament. This was demand of all political parties when I convened that conference (on July 3); the parties said they can’t give viewpoint without a draft. So, we have fulfilled that obligation. Now, we want broad national consensus," Dr Singh said.

"There are difficulties. Certain stages have to be crossed and we hope people will appreciate that there is a dynamic of legislative process that takes time to get over. We must work together to push forward the case for strong and effective Lokpal, and should remove obstacles in the way," the Prime Minister added.

The government is engaged in a battle with the civil society activists over the Lokpal draft bill. The civil society, led by social activist Anna Hazare and his team which includes RTI activist and Magsaysay Award winner Arvind Kejriwal, prominent father-son lawyer duo Prashant and Shanti Bhushan, and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, wants their version of the bill - which they call the Jan Lokpal Bill - to be passed by Parliament. The government, on the other hand has presented its own version of the bill on the floor of the House.

While Team Anna has outright rejected the government’s version of the bill saying it supports the corrupt, the government says the civil society’s draft proposes too much power in one single body which could be dangerous.

The Opposition points out that the government first invited Anna and his associates to help draft the Lokpal Bill, which is aimed at sterilising public office from corruption. When Team Anna’s agenda for the bill proved to be different from the government’s, the activists’ suggestions were discarded. "You led them up the garden path and then you deserted them," charged BJP leader Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week, salting the wound. Because the Opposition was not invited either to negotiate with Team Anna or to examine the bill that was being drafted, the government finds little support for its charge that by challenging the bill, Team Anna is undermining Parliament.

 

Parliamentary panel seeks public opinion on Lokpal Bill

A Parliamentary committee has sought public opinion and suggestions on the Lokpal Bill, giving people 15 days to send their feedback on the measure which proposes to create an anti-corruption watchdog.

 

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice and Personnel today issued an advertisement in dailies giving out salient features of the bill and asking people to send their opinions and suggestions within 15 days.

While 15 days is the standard time given by parliamentary panels to people or organisations to send feedback on bills, it was an indication that the committee will not be able to give its recommendations before the end of the Monsoon Session on September 8.

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has set August 30 as the deadline for Parliament to pass the bill. Soon after the bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 4, the Rajya Sabha Chairman referred it to the committee and asked it to give its recommendations in three months.

The Standing Committee on Law and Justice and Personnel is serviced by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat and headed by a Rajya Sabha member, in this case Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Soon after the bill was referred to it, the committee had invited team Hazare to place its views before the panel.

Home Minister P Chidambaram had recently said that Mr Hazare was free to place his views before the panel once again.

Reacting to the newspaper advertisements seeking suggestions from public on Lokpal Bill, Mr Hazare’s associate Arvind Kejriwal said it appeared to be an exercise which will waste the time of people and Parliamentarians.

"We appeared before the Standing Committee earlier and told them that the present bill is actually for promotion of corruption and save the corrupt people. It ends up targeting those who complain against corruption," Mr Kejriwal said, adding they had urged the Standing Committee to reject the bill and send it back to the government.

"It is wasting precious time on a wrong and faulty bill," he said.

Meanwhile, committee chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "All the interested stakeholders should put their opinion in front of us, they will be considered carefully clause by clause, this process will be done.

"The bill is not in the Lok Sabha yet, it is only with the standing committee as of now. Only when it comes in Lok Sabha, then there will be parliamentary proceedings... neither me nor you can comment on it... but how much time Parliament will take cannot be ascertained," he said.