New Delhi:
The chasm between the two teams that are drafting India's new law against corruption took on Grand Canyon proportions today. At its ninth and final meeting, the committee assigned to work on the Lokpal Bill walked away from the table clutching two separate drafts of the same bill.
(Read: Team Anna's draft of Lokpal Bill)
"We agreed to disagree," said Kapil Sibal, who is one of the five ministers on the committee; the other five members are activists headed by Gandhian Anna Hazare. PTI quoted Mr Hazare as warning that he would start a fast on August 16 "to teach the government a lesson" with the help of a people's movement.
"We are deeply disappointed," said Prashant Bhushan, an activist-member of the committee. The government's version of the Lokpal, he said, "remains largely a symbolic effort."
(Watch: Team Anna deeply disappointed)
The Lokpal is meant to have 11 members who will serve as an ombudsman and combat corruption among politicians and bureaucrats. There are eight major points of difference between the activists and the ministers - which have led to both sides developing their own versions of the Lokpal Bill. Topping the list of irreconcilable differences is whether the Lokpal can investigate the Prime Minister on charges of corruption.
The activists say this is a must-have. The government said over the weekend that at best, it would agree to the PM being investigated after his or her term is completed. But now, the ministers' draft excludes the Prime Minister altogether.
(Read: Government's version of Lokpal Bill)After the Drafting Committee met, the ministers ripped apart Team Anna's draft. "Can we have a parallel investigative agency outside the government answerable to nobody outside the framework of the constitution? This is the fundamental issue that the people of this country will have to decide," said Mr Sibal.
In the next two or three days, Mr Sibal said, Team Anna will share its comments on the ministers' draft of the Lokpal Bill. The two drafts - or one draft that reflects both points of view, it's not clear which - will then be circulated among political parties. A formal meeting with other parties will be scheduled in July to discuss the Bill, which will then be forwarded to the Cabinet. The version that the Cabinet approves of will be tabled in parliament in the monsoon session.
The Joint Drafting Committee with its unique combination of elected and non-elected representatives was formed in April after Mr Hazare undertook a lengthy hunger strike against corruption. His call-to-action resounded with middle class India which unconditionally backed his movement- India Against Corruption.
(Read: Anna warns of second fast)
The government was forced to sanction Mr Hazare's demand - that civil society representatives be given a formal role in the drafting of the much-delayed Lokpal Bill.
Sticking points between the two sides include whether the Bill can apply to bureaucrats and MPs. The government says that while MPs will be covered by the Lokpal Bill, their conduct inside Parliament remains off-limits for the Lokpal. The government has also refused to let the Chief Justice of India be covered by the Bill; it says the Judicial Accountability Bill will handle complaints against senior judges. Activists want all bureaucrats to be covered by the Bill; the government says only senior bureaucrats should be governed by it.
Arvind Kejriwal, a member of Team Anna, elaborated on other misgivings. "Both the selection and removal of the 11 Lokpal members will be the prerogative of the government," he said. The government, he explained, wants the selection committee for the Lokpal Bill to consist largely of politicians, while activists want judges and the Central Vigilance Commissioner to be involved.
The ministers say that they have ceded considerable ground to Team Anna. The Lokpal will have quasi-judicial powers and will not have to wait for sanction to prosecute government officials; it will also have an independent probe and prosecution wing, with full police powers for its Investigations Officers. However, the ministers say the government cannot make the CBI report to the Lokpal instead of the government.