As far as bringing the Union government employees under the Lokpal and applying citizens’ charter for them is concerned, former additional solicitor-general K.N. Bhat says there should be no difficulty for Parliament to legislate on the issue.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Surat Singh acknowledged that under the ordinary lawmaking powers, Parliament could not legislate for the states except under the provisions of Article 252, but the problem could be overcome through a constitutional amendment.
“Since yesterday’s resolution was passed unanimously with the ruling Congress and Opposition BJP agreeing on the three issues, there should not be any difficulty even on the constitutional amendment. Amendment can be brought by Parliament in those articles of the Constitution which do not deal with its basic structure as defined by the Supreme Court. Passing a law for the state is not covered under the basic structure as there is even scope of it under Article 252,” said Dr Singh, a legal scholar from Harvard.
“The basic purpose of the law is to provide justice to the people and society as a whole as spelt out in the Preamble of the Constitution. If there is a will, a way can be found as legal or constitutional parameters are no bar in the case of Lokpal and Lokayukta,” he said, adding, “This is only a question of political will and any arguments of legality could be cited if there is no political will to do it.”