Consensus elusive, but all want ‘strong’ Lokpal Bill

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As consensus among the political parties proved elusive on the provisions and structure of the proposed Lokpal, the leaders who attended Sunday’s all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to a one-line joint resolution, which read: “The government should bring in the next Parliament session a strong, effective anti-graft legislation following the established parliamentary procedures.”
After the meeting the leaders of different parties, who spoke to the media, indicated that they had only discussed the “semantics” of the proposed legislation, leaving the specifics to be taken up only after the government brings the formal legislative proposal in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
“The all-party meeting agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal Bill following the established procedures,” said the resolution passed after the three-hour meeting at the Prime Minister’s 7 Race Course Road residence.
Taking the government to the task, most of the Opposition, including the BJP, JD(U), the Left parties, Telugu Desam and the Samajwadi Party, criticised it for not bringing a formal draft bill to the table for discussion. It is learnt most of them complained that the government was being casual on the serious issue of corruption. “We did not discuss provisions of either of the versions (civil society and government representatives) as nothing concrete was placed before us to discuss,” said a leader who attended the meeting.
Most Opposition leaders also criticised the government for engaging civil society members on the Lokpal Bill and setting up the joint committee with the Anna Hazare team before consulting the political parties.
Opinion remained divided within the Opposition too on various provisions of the proposed legislation, with a number of small parties, except the AIADMK, favouring inclusion of the Prime Minister but not higher judiciary in the ambit of the anti-corruption ombudsman. But the smaller parties in the ruling UPA — NCP, Trinamul Congress; but not the DMK — favoured exclusion of the Prime Minister from the ambit of the Lokpal.
Maintaining it had serious differences over the draft prepared by the five ministers of the joint drafting committee over jurisdiction and the process of selection and removal of the Lokpal, the BJP continued to keep its cards close to its chest, refusing to divulge its views on the three most contentious issues — inclusion of Prime Minister, higher judiciary and conduct of MPs in Parliament under the ambit of the Lokpal. “The BJP will present its views on the Lokpal Bill when it is discussed in Parliament; it may be passed in the Winter Session after going through the standing committee,” said Ms Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, a kind of spat broke out between Union minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Ms Swaraj during the meeting, when the latter urged the Prime Minister to “restrain” his ministers. Sources said that when Dr Abdullah made a terse remark — “Who the hell is Anna?”, Ms Swaraj responded: “The government should rather tell — who the hell is Anna.”
Earlier, setting the tone for the meeting, Dr Singh said the government was committed to bringing a bill that would provide for “a strong and effective way to tackle corruption in high places”, but such an institution would have to work within the framework of the Constitution. Dr Singh told the all-party meeting that strong laws to tackle corruption were a necessity, but these alone would not suffice, and there was a need to focus on “simplifying procedures, reducing discretion, eliminating arbitrariness and increasing transparency in the way government functions”.
The Prime Minister also noted there was a feeling that institutional arrangements in place are not strong enough to ensure that the guilty, especially those in high positions, are brought to book swiftly and given deterrent punishment.
“I must make it clear at the outset that we, in government, are committed to the enactment of a Lokpal Act which provides for a strong, effective and quick institutional arrangement for tackling corruption in high places,” Dr Singh said. He added that his government was committed to bringing the bill before Parliament in the coming Monsoon Session.
Apparently acknowledging concerns over certain demands by civil society members which are considered to be creating a “parallel structure”, Dr Singh emphasised that the institution of Lokpal “has to work in harmony” with other institutions and laws, and must “function within the framework” of the basic structure of the Constitution.
The Prime Minister emphasised that the Lokpal will have “to add to and not detract from the legitimate role and authority of other institutions in our democratic structure”.