With Bihar’s Opposition parties continuing to voice their protest against the Bihar Lokayukta Bill, 2011 framed by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government, the Bill is likely to rouse strong debate in the state legislature but looks certain to be
eventually passed into law due to the NDA’s sheer numerical strength. The draft bill, which had faced criticism from Team Anna members and produced no consensus among Bihar’s Opposition parties in an all-party meeting, was brought to its current form by incorporating several changes. Three days after governor Devanand Konwar gave his approval on the draft, it was presented in the Assembly on Monday, but the Opposition RJD and Congress have dubbed it a “weak and quick” draft.
While the selection committee for the Lokayukta kept the chief minister out after the protests, the proposed five-member committee remains a bone of contention with the Opposition parties and social activists objecting to the inclusion of the Assembly Speaker and the Legislative Council chairman as its members. The draft proposes two sitting high court judges or two members nominated by the Chief Justice and the outgoing Lokayukta as the three other members.
“The Lokayukta draft bill is complete rubbish. The CM takes himself out of the committee because he is going to be in the law’s ambit, but what about the Speaker and the Legislative Council chairman,” asked RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui.