Cracks in Lokpal panel over PM, judiciary

Serious differences have cropped up between the government and civil society members of the committee formed to draft a tough anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, over the inclusion of the Prime Minister within its ambit.

Arvind Kejriwal, a member of the committee representing the civil society, said the government came up with the sorry suggestion of not even including the Prime Minister within the ambit of the proposed Jan Lokpal Bill.

“The government earlier said the PM would be under it, but now they say the PM, the judiciary and the higher bureaucracy [joint secretaries] would not be under it,” said an unhappy Kejriwal.

According to panel member Prashant Bhushan, the government’s contention is that if the PM is included and there is corruption inquiry against him, then he will be dysfunctional.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on behalf of the government said there are efforts to remove the differences and the committe has decided to write letters to the state governments and the political parties on some of the prickly issues.

He said meetings would be held on June 6 and 10 to resolve these issues.

“We are looking into the issues constructively to resolve some of these issues,” Sibal said.

The joint joint drafting committee had earlier said that the bill’s draft will be finalized by June 30.

The first meeting of the joint drafting committee was held here on Apr 16.

The 10-member committee, first-of-its-kind in India formed after a hunger-strike by Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare, has equal participation of the government and civil society that aims to draft the anti-graft ombudsman bill to be called Jan Lokpal Bill.