Government on Thursday rejected joint Lokpal bill drafting committee co-chairman Shanti Bhushan’s invitation to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and other government representatives on the panel to join civil society in an open debate over the proposed legislation.
While rejecting the invitation, Mr Mukherjee, who is the chairman of the joint drafting committee (JDC) said, “The information needed for an informed public debate regarding the deliberations of the JDC as well as the texts of the letters written to the political parties and chief ministers of the states is available on the website of DoPT.”
Informing that he had discussed the invitation proposal with his colleagues on the panel, Mr Mukherjee in his reply to Mr Shanti Bhushan said, “We feel that at this point of time, it is essential for the members of the JDC to concentrate on drafting a strong and implementable Lokpal bill to fulfil our commitment of completing this work by 30th June 2011.” While offering an invitation to the government representative in the JDC, Mr Bhushan, in a letter on June 1, had said, “We are organising a national public debate on the six issues identified by the government after the discussions held in the fifth meeting on May 30.