As the government virtually succumbed to the “satyagraha” by Anna Hazare on the Lokpal Bill agreeing to consider the suggested changes and the Gandhian setting a deadline of “independence day” for its passage of by Parliament, a glance into the history of the bill and the 10 failed attempts during the past 43 years indicated how the legislation had mired in intense political controversies.
The first attempt to pass the bill was made in 1968 with its introduction in the Lok Sabha following the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) for creating the institution of Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta in the states.
Despite the Lok Sabha passing the bill in 1969, it faced a “procedureal death” as the lower house was disssolved during the pendency of the legislation in the Rajya Sabha.
The “procedural death” in legislative parlance virtually proved to be a jinx for an important legislation like this as the successive government in their subsequent nine attempts miserably failed to take any effective action to get through the bill brought before Parliament in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008. On every occasion, the bill was referred to parliamentary committees for detailed deliberations following sharp differences between the political parties on its structure.
Barring 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, when the Opposition was in power, the other six attempts were made by the Congress-led governments. Two attempts were made by “Third Front” parties in 1989 when the Nation Front, led by V.P. Singh, was in power and in 1996 by the United Front dispensation, led by H.D. Deve Gowda. The BJP government, headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee made two unsuccessful attempts to get the bill introduced in Parliament in 1998 and 2001 but due to diffeences among the political parties, the deadlock persisted.
Except in 1969, when the Lok Sabha had passed the bill, at no other occasion was it actually passed by either houses of Parliament as it got entangled in the consultation process before the parliamentary committees.