No consensus on contours of Lokpal bill

According to sources, a majority of the parties did not favour the government’s manner of going about drafting legislation for anti-corruption ombu­dsman by unilaterally discussing the proposed Lokpal bill with the civil society group represented by Anna Hazare.  They were also critical of the methods adopted by the Hazare team in pressurising the government to concede their points.

Barring the main Opposition BJP, all other political parties made their stand clear on the conte­ntious issues of whether the prime minister and higher judiciary should be brought under the bill’s ambit. A number of small parties, except the AIADMK, favoured inclusion of prime minister but not higher judiciary under the ambit of the anti-graft ombudsman.

The UPA ally, the DMK, opposed the government stand of excluding the prime minister under the bill. The Left Front also favoured inclusion of PM in the bill’s ambit.

However, the BJP said it had serious differences over the draft prepared by the five ministers of the joint drafting committee with regard to jurisdiction and process of selection and removal of the Lokpal.

“The all party meeting ag­reed that government sh­ould bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal bill following the established procedures,” according to a resolution pa­ssed at the end of the meeting which was presided by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by all parties except the Shiv Sena.

Setting the tone for the me­eting, Singh said the government was committed to bringing a bill that will provide for “strong and effective way to tackle corruption in high places” but such an institution will have to work within the framework of Constitution.

The prime minister said the Lokpal will have “to add to and not detract from the legitimate ro­le and authority of other ins­ti­tutions in our democratic st­r­ucture.”


Underlining that the Constitution provides for an “intricate system of checks and balances”, he said the new institution of Lokpal has to find an appropriate place in that matrix.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told the meeting that government should stick to established Parliamentary processes while bringing a strong Lokpal bil.
“We did not discuss the details of Lokpal Bill. We, however, made it clear that we disagree with the provisions of the present government draft. We want  the government to bring a strong and effective Lokpal Bill.A strong Lokpal should be selected transparently and able to act impartially”, Swaraj said after emerging from the meeting.
  The BJP said  the bill should be sent to the Standing Committee of Parliament to seek views of states, political parties and other organisations.

Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, who is Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said they have serious differences over several provisions of the draft prepared by the ministers.
“We have serious differences on who should come within the purview of the Lokpal, the appointment mechanism, who is eligible to be appointed and who should initiate removal of Lokpal, among other issues,” Jaitley said.

Besides Singh, the meeting was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M Veerappa Moily, Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel (both NCP), and T R Baalu (DMK) were among UPA leaders who attended the meeting.

The Opposition was represented by  BJP leader  L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj (Lok Sabha) and Arun Jaitley (Rajya Sabha), NDA Convenor and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, S S Dhindsa (Akali Dal), Sitaram Yechury (CPM), Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja (both CPI), Lalu Prasad (RJD) and V Maitreyan and M Thambidurai ( AIADMK). S C Mishra (BSP) and Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) also attended the meeting.