Lokpal Bill will be passed unanimously: Shanti Bhushan

The government Saturday notified a 10-member team that would draft the Lokpal (Ombudsman) bill, following a 97-hour hunger strike by veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare, which catalysed a mass movement against corruption.

The panel will have five members each from the government and the civil society. It would include Hazare as well as former Supreme Court judge and present Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, Shanti Bhushan, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

"After it (Lokpal Bill) is fine tuned, it will go to the two house of parliament. I expect it to be unanimously passed," Shanti Bhushan told televison channels, after the government acceded to Hazare's demands and issued a notification for the joint committee Saturday morning.

Bhushan said there was "no doubt" that the government wants to implement a Lokpal Bill. "Because, after all, the government wants to enact a law which will excite the popular imagination of the people. Because it is only after enacting the law that it gets electoral dividend and the Congress party is headed by a person like Sonia Gandhi, who has the pulse of the people," he said.

The 85-year-old social activist said that he had no doubt that the ten members of the draft committee will draft a "very strong law against corruption".
However, he said the Lokpal had to be an independent body to be efficient.

"We will welcome any direction. But certainly, its independent character and authority to investigate any complaint of corruption cannot be diluted, because it is the desire of the people of India," he said.

He added that all strata of society were worried about graft, "whether it is small corruption or big corruption like the 2G scam".

"So, therefore, we have to fulfill those aspiration of the people. That will be the hope of the entire committee which consist of very competent people," said Bhushan.