This Article is From Jun 19, 2011
Lokpal Bill: Govt, civil members to meet on Monday
New Delhi: Amid sharpdifferences between representatives of government and civil society, the twosides will meet on Monday in a last ditch attempt to resolve contentious issuesand hammer out a consensus on the Lokpal Bill.
On the eve of themeeting of the Lokpal joint drafting committee - the eighth since April 16,Senior ministers held discussions for nearly three hours on Sunday evening tofinetune the Government's strategy.
The deliberations,chaired by Finance Minister and panel chairman Pranab Mukherjee, were attendedby Union ministers Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Veerappa Moily - allmembers of the committee.
Minister of State inPMO V Narayanaswamy also took part in the parleys. However, another member ofthe committee Home Minister P Chidambaram was not present as he was out oftown.
None of the ministersspoke to media after the meeting which lasted two hours and 45 minutes.
Monday's deliberationscould be the last meeting of the joint committee and another round will be heldon Tuesday if the discussions for an anti-corruption watchdog are not concludedon Monday.
Karnataka LokayuktaSantosh Hegde, a member of the drafting committee, denied any split in the AnnaHazare camp and said he will attend the panel's meeting and backed the socialactivist's planned fast from August 16 after opposing it.
After his comments onHazare's fast and inability to take part in the meeting in Delhi fuelledspeculation of differences among civil society representatives, Hegde said he willbe present on June 21 to show there is 'no rift'.
While the governmenthas virtually ruled out bringing the post of the Prime Minister under the ambitof the anti-corruption watchdog, Congress core group has favoured convening anall-party meeting on the issue of inclusion of the PM. The Hazare camp is pressingfor bringing the Prime Minister under Lokpal's purview.
HRD Minister KapilSibal, a member of the Joint Drafting Committee, said the view within thegovernment is that Prime Minister should not be included within the ambit ofLokpal.
He, however, saidonce the PM demits office, he should not be "exonerated" fromprosecution.
Santosh Hegde howeverfeels keeping the Prime Minister out of Lokpal till he demits office will notserve the purpose of having an effective investigation because there will notbe any trail of any misconduct.
A final view on theticklish issue will be taken by the union cabinet once the draft bill reachesit after consultation with political parties, he said.
A governmentrepresentative of the Committee said the inclusion of judiciary and conduct ofMPs inside Parliament in the proposed legislation was "not possible"as it would amount to amending the Constitution.
"The Committee'smandate is clear and that is to enact a legislation. The members led by AnnaHazare are also clear about the mandate...it is in the notification," hesaid.
But the memberinsisted that the government side will try its best to convince the civilsociety members about its "stand and compulsions".
However, the Anna Hazareteam dubbed the argument to keep the Prime Minister out of Lokpal's ambit as"absurd".
"There is noreason whatsoever to exclude the Prime Minister. Whatever arguments are beinggiven seem to suggest that if the Prime Minister was subject to anti-corruptioninvestigation then he would become dysfunctional," lawyer PrashantBhushan, a team member, said.
He said the argumentwas "absurd" as the Prime Minister can be investigated by the CBI,which is under his control, but not an independent agency like Lokpal.
If the two sides failto settle their differences, a draft bill with points of agreements anddisagreements will be prepared.
The government and civil society are atloggerheads on the issues of inclusion of prime minister, judiciary and conductof MPs inside Parliament.