Lokpal panel to present two drafts

Differences persist among members

With serious differences continuing to dominate the seventh meeting of the joint bill drafting committee, the members decided to meet on two other occasions—on June 20 and 21—as a last bid to arrive at some consensus which has so far eluded the panel. The two separate drafts of the bill will be sent to the Cabinet on June 30.

As there was no meeting point at the more than two-hour-long deliberation We­dnesday evening, civil society representatives accused the government of being pre-determined and adamant in its approach while the Centre conceded that on major issues there was no consensus. Briefing journalists after the discussions, committee member and minister Kapil Sibal said: “Consensus eluded us on some major issues. We will meet again on June 20 and if there is no consensus, then civil society members will give us the final Jan Lokpal draft Bill which we will forward to the Cabinet along with our draft. The Cabinet will take the final decision which will enable the government to place the draft Bill before Parliament.” The government, he said, would continue to consult parties on the Bill.
Deliberate stand

Charging that the government was deliberately adopting a hardline, Arvind Kejriwal, one of the five civil society representatives on the committee, said: “There was no discussion on any issue today. Rather, it seemed to us that the government members wanted to tell us their decisions. The government is trying to kill the Lokpal.” Another non-official committee member Prashant Bhushan said: “There are too many fundamental differences between our concept of Lokpal and theirs. It will be up to the Cabinet and Parliament to decide on the modifications in the bill.”

Kejriwal said “nothing could be achieved at the meeting. The government is in no mood to fight corruption and is proposing such a Lokpal which will die even before its birth”. The two sides have been at loggerheads ever since civil society members demanded that the prime minister, higher judiciary and the role of MPs in Parliament be brought under the Lokpal’s ambit, a move the  government has opposed.

The non-official members boycotted the last meeting against the government’s refusal to include the prime minister under the purview of the proposed institution and the police action on yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s followers.

While the committee did discuss the issue relating to the structure of the Lokpal, no agreement emerged between the two sides. “The government wants to make the Lokpal an 11-member body with no effective investigative machinery working under it. This means it will take all decisions, including minor ones”, Kejriwal said.

The RTI activist added that the government is “seeing it as high level of corruption. But the kind of bill we (civil society) have thought of is that an 11-member Lokpal at the top will supervise and administer the vigilance and investigative machinery dealing with all officials. If this is the process, it will take a very lengthy time to take decisions. We have proposed the Lokpal as an independent body with an independent investigative agency under it which will take independent decisions”.