The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has put on hold its review of the government draft Lokpal Bill to avoid “duplication” with the joint committee now working on the anti-graft legislation.
“There is no point NAC reviewing the draft Lokpal Bill once a joint committee involving Union ministers and social activists is working on a new draft bill,” said NAC sources.
The sources further said once the joint-committee comes up with its draft bill, the same may be reviewed by the NAC. Till then the NAC’s review of the draft Lokpal Bill has been suspended, they said.
The advisory body had decided to take up the Lokpal Bill in February this year and its working group on transparency and accountability, headed by Ms Aruna Roy, had started the process of consultations with the various civil society groups on April 4. This included social activists like Shanti Bhushan, Santosh Hegde, Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan, who are now members of the joint committee.
However, activists of the NGOs like National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) and NMML, who started a separate consultation process on the draft Lokpal Bill on April 16, said the five social activists who are members in the joint committee do not represent the entire civil society.
“We have started a separate consultation process on the draft Lokpal Bill to have a multiplicity of views on the key legislation,” said Shekhar Singh of NCPRI.
Speaking at the NCPRI-NMML consultation on Saturday, experts said there was a need for a basket of measures to address the problem of corruption than having an all-powerful Lokpal Bill.
They said the objective of such consultations is to help strengthen the democratic and deliberative process, and ensure that the Lokpal Bill takes into account the concerns and priorities of as many groups and individuals as possible.