New Delhi: The honeymoon seems to be over. After the pleasantries in the past few meetings, the gloves seemed to be off on Monday as the government representatives and the civil society members were at loggerheads on virtually every contentious issue at the meeting of the joint drafting committee of the Lokpal Bill.
There were differences on whether the Prime Minister and the judiciary should be included in the new Lokpal law, on whether the Lokpal’s jurisdiction should extend to MPs’ parliamentary conduct, to officers below the level of joint secretary, as well as on the demand for merging the existing anti-corruption bodies like
CVC, CBI and departmental vigilance wings into the office of the Lokpal.
While the Anna Hazare-led civil society group, which considers these five issues non-negotiable, described the meeting as “disastrous,” HRD minister Kapil Sibal, speaking on the government’s behalf, maintained that it was just trying to prevent the high office of the PM from being hobbled by frivolous charges. As no meeting point seemed in sight, observers wondered whether this was the beginning of the end of the joint committee.
While taking the position that the Lokpal’s jurisdiction should not extend to the PM, the government representatives strongly argued for “self regulation” rather than oversight by an anti-graft mechanism for tackling the corruption in higher judiciary.
They plumped for the same for MPs’ conduct inside Parliament. The civil society members expressed deep disappointment with the three-hourlong meeting.
STICKY POINTS
Lokpal ambit to cover PMO, judiciary, conduct of MPs in Parliament, officials below rank of joint secy
Merging of CVC, CBI and investigating wings of various departments
GOVT | Bringing PM under Lokpal ambit will make him “dysfunctional”; Kapil Sibal says govt’s concern only to save the high office from being hobbled by motivated charges. “Self-regulation” rather than oversight
CIVIL SOCIETY | Govt version will create a Lokpal for less than 3,500 officers above rank of joint secretary, with no powers on MPs, PM or judiciary. “What is the point of the whole exercise?” ‘Govt seeking a toothless Lokpal’
Although the two sides are meeting on June 6 as scheduled, the outcome of the exercise remains uncertain given the huge gap separating the positions of the two groups. In fact, Hazare expressed the fear that meeting the June 30 deadline for the draft legislation may not be possible now.
Another civil society rep on the committee, Arvind Kejriwal, said that the government is seeking to turn the Lokpal into a toothless body, "If these demands are rejected, the government is creating a Lokpal for less than 3,500 officers above the rank of joint secretary. It will have no powers over MPs, the PM or the judiciary. What is the point of the whole exercise?"
He added that forbidding the Lokpal from probing the conduct of MPs inside Parliament means that the anti-corruption watchdog will not be able to probe scams like the "cash-for-vote" and "cash-for query" cases. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said the government representatives told them that bringing the PMO under Lokpal's purview would make him 'dysfunctional'. "We only wanted that he comes under the purview of an independent agency instead of the agencies that come under the government which results in conflict of interest," he said.
Government representatives, however, justified their stand, saying that the putting PM under the purview could undermine the institution as frivolous allegations may be used him to put him under a cloud. Bhushan responded by saying that corruption allegations had been made against the late PM Rajiv Gandhi during the Bofors scandal but that did not affect his working. But this didn't cut ice with the government reps.
Bhushan went a step further, saying that government's proposals were "worse" than those in the first bill which had already been "condemned and rejected." Kejriwal spoke similarly, saying that government's opposition to bringing PM within the jurisdiction of Lokpal amounted to reversal of its own position. The government also wanted that the defence personnel should be kept out of the purview of the bill, Kejriwal said.
Kapil Sibal rejected the charge, saying that there was no bar for any investigating agency to probe the PM, and that the government's concern
was only to save the high office from being hobbled by motivated charges that may become the order of the day if civil society's version of the Lokpal bill is accepted.
On the issue of investigating corruption cases against the MPs, the government said that it had no objection to the Lokpal investigating corruption issues involving them outside Parliament but opposed the proposal to allow the agency to investigate the acts of corruption by the MPs inside Parliament.
Despite the volatile meeting, Sibal expressed confidence that the bill for a strong and effective Lokpal would be a reality. "We must provide the country with a transparent legislation as corruption is an issue which concerns everybody. We remain committed to provide the people an effective Lokpal," he said.
As no agreement could be reached, the government has decided to write to states and political parties to seek their opinion on these "issues of divergence" and get back to them at the next meeting on June 6.
Sibal said there was need to take the view of the states since Lokayuktas have to be appointed there. He added that the government also held the view that the offices of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and CBI should not be merged with Lokpal.
There were differences on whether the Prime Minister and the judiciary should be included in the new Lokpal law, on whether the Lokpal’s jurisdiction should extend to MPs’ parliamentary conduct, to officers below the level of joint secretary, as well as on the demand for merging the existing anti-corruption bodies like
CVC, CBI and departmental vigilance wings into the office of the Lokpal.
While the Anna Hazare-led civil society group, which considers these five issues non-negotiable, described the meeting as “disastrous,” HRD minister Kapil Sibal, speaking on the government’s behalf, maintained that it was just trying to prevent the high office of the PM from being hobbled by frivolous charges. As no meeting point seemed in sight, observers wondered whether this was the beginning of the end of the joint committee.
While taking the position that the Lokpal’s jurisdiction should not extend to the PM, the government representatives strongly argued for “self regulation” rather than oversight by an anti-graft mechanism for tackling the corruption in higher judiciary.
They plumped for the same for MPs’ conduct inside Parliament. The civil society members expressed deep disappointment with the three-hourlong meeting.
STICKY POINTS
Lokpal ambit to cover PMO, judiciary, conduct of MPs in Parliament, officials below rank of joint secy
Merging of CVC, CBI and investigating wings of various departments
GOVT | Bringing PM under Lokpal ambit will make him “dysfunctional”; Kapil Sibal says govt’s concern only to save the high office from being hobbled by motivated charges. “Self-regulation” rather than oversight
CIVIL SOCIETY | Govt version will create a Lokpal for less than 3,500 officers above rank of joint secretary, with no powers on MPs, PM or judiciary. “What is the point of the whole exercise?” ‘Govt seeking a toothless Lokpal’
Although the two sides are meeting on June 6 as scheduled, the outcome of the exercise remains uncertain given the huge gap separating the positions of the two groups. In fact, Hazare expressed the fear that meeting the June 30 deadline for the draft legislation may not be possible now.
Another civil society rep on the committee, Arvind Kejriwal, said that the government is seeking to turn the Lokpal into a toothless body, "If these demands are rejected, the government is creating a Lokpal for less than 3,500 officers above the rank of joint secretary. It will have no powers over MPs, the PM or the judiciary. What is the point of the whole exercise?"
He added that forbidding the Lokpal from probing the conduct of MPs inside Parliament means that the anti-corruption watchdog will not be able to probe scams like the "cash-for-vote" and "cash-for query" cases. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said the government representatives told them that bringing the PMO under Lokpal's purview would make him 'dysfunctional'. "We only wanted that he comes under the purview of an independent agency instead of the agencies that come under the government which results in conflict of interest," he said.
Government representatives, however, justified their stand, saying that the putting PM under the purview could undermine the institution as frivolous allegations may be used him to put him under a cloud. Bhushan responded by saying that corruption allegations had been made against the late PM Rajiv Gandhi during the Bofors scandal but that did not affect his working. But this didn't cut ice with the government reps.
Bhushan went a step further, saying that government's proposals were "worse" than those in the first bill which had already been "condemned and rejected." Kejriwal spoke similarly, saying that government's opposition to bringing PM within the jurisdiction of Lokpal amounted to reversal of its own position. The government also wanted that the defence personnel should be kept out of the purview of the bill, Kejriwal said.
Kapil Sibal rejected the charge, saying that there was no bar for any investigating agency to probe the PM, and that the government's concern
was only to save the high office from being hobbled by motivated charges that may become the order of the day if civil society's version of the Lokpal bill is accepted.
On the issue of investigating corruption cases against the MPs, the government said that it had no objection to the Lokpal investigating corruption issues involving them outside Parliament but opposed the proposal to allow the agency to investigate the acts of corruption by the MPs inside Parliament.
Despite the volatile meeting, Sibal expressed confidence that the bill for a strong and effective Lokpal would be a reality. "We must provide the country with a transparent legislation as corruption is an issue which concerns everybody. We remain committed to provide the people an effective Lokpal," he said.
As no agreement could be reached, the government has decided to write to states and political parties to seek their opinion on these "issues of divergence" and get back to them at the next meeting on June 6.
Sibal said there was need to take the view of the states since Lokayuktas have to be appointed there. He added that the government also held the view that the offices of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and CBI should not be merged with Lokpal.
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