Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and discussed various issues relating to the Jan Lokpal Bill. Sources said Kejriwal apprised Jung of his government's views on introduction of the bill in the assembly.
After civil society activists slammed the government's Lokpal Bill, the Centre on Friday said that people who are not satisfied with the Bill can approach the Standing Committee of Parliament and persuade it to make changes. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, who was part of the joint committee to draft the bill, said the government has already reconciled taking into account a number of provisions suggested by the civil society.
The demand of Anna Hazare and his supporters is to draft a new Lokpal bill, place it before the Parliament and make it an act.
The Lokpal Bill will come up for scrutiny by the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the first time on September 7.
In the Upper House of Parliament, where the Lokpal Bill is likely to be taken up on Wednesday, the Congress does not have majority on its own or with its allies in the UPA.
With Lok Sabha taking up the Lokpal bill on Wednesday, there are expectations that Anna Hazare, whose fast entered the ninth day, will call it off after it is passed in the Lower House.
Team Anna on Monday evening demanded that Lokpal Bill be passed by Parliament before the legislation on Food Security to ensure that the money spent on ensuring food for all reaches the deserved without any diversion of funds.
In a bid to allay concerns of states and political parties alike, the government appears to have decided to delink the provision of Lokayuktas in states from the Lokpal Bill.
Amid the government's keenness to introduce Lokpal Bill in Parliament before the end of the winter session on December 22, the Union Cabinet on Sunday night had informal discussions on the much-hyped legislation which is expected to be taken up by the Cabinet formally on Monday.
Trinamool Congress on Thursday said it will support the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha if it is brought without the clause about appointing Lokayuktas in the states.
Social activist Anna Hazare and his supporters on Thursday burned copies of government's version of the Lokpal Bill in Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra. The Lokpal Bill was tabled in the Parliament on Thursday. N Ganesh reports.
Accusing the United Progressive Alliance government of "playing tricks" with the people of the country, Anna Hazare on Thursday questioned the rationale behind sending two versions of the Lokpal Bill to the Cabinet for consideration.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday decided to oppose certain provisions in the Lokpal Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha and move for amendments in it.
The much-hyped Lokpal Bill will be delayed further with the government on Wednesday saying it will bring the measure in the Rajya Sabha in the budget session with required amendments in the light of the report of the Select Committee.
Appealing to Anna Hazare to end his fast, the government on Wednesday said it has forwarded Jan Lokpal Bill to Parliament's Standing Committee for consideration and it is up to it to take a decision.
Former Union law minister and civil activist Shanti Bhushan has urged the government to hold an open debate on the Lokpal Bill so that the people of India get to know the stance taken by the various members of the drafting committee.Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, chairman of the Lokpal Bill Drafting committee, is yet to respond to Bhushan's demand.Bhushan, who is one of the five representatives of the civil society on the panel, said the government was backtracking.
Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to meet Anna Hazare who wanted to discuss with the Congress chief the civil society's stand on the Lokpal Bill on Thursday.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to go into a batch of Public Interest Litigations challenging constitutional validity of the notification on composition of a committee to draft the Jan Lokpal bill, saying the petitions were "premature".
The Aam Aadmi Party government's plans to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill in a public venue next week faced fresh hurdles with Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran insisting that Lt Governor's prior approval is necessary while key ally Congress toughened its opposition.
Promising all efforts to get the Lokpal Bill passed in the current session of Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday expressed confidence that it will be brought to the Cabinet on Sunday.
Hazare said the Congress should understand the reality after the serious drubbing it received in the just-concluded assembly elections and ensure the passage of the Lokpal Bill in the winter session of Parliament which is underway
Hardening its stand on the Lokpal Bill, United Progressive Alliance ally Trinamool Congress today ruled out any compromise on the Lokayukta provision and said the government should have faced voting in the Rajya Sabha.
Criticising the government over the delay in the passage of the Lokpal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said that the Bill should be passed before the Parliament session ends on Tuesday. "The government is still silent on the issue, maybe because no agitation is taking place on the streets," he said, adding that there was still no certainty whether the Bill would be passed in the Parliament or not.
With pressure mounting on the Centre for enacting a strong anti-graft legislation, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the Lokpal Bill will "certainly" be introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament.
The Anna Hazare team on Wednesday met Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat in New Delhi to explain the civil society's position on the Lokpal Bill ahead of the all party meeting on the issue.
Stating that the government is shocked at the comments made by veteran social activist Anna Hazare's team, Union Human Resource and Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said steps as these would only slow down the drafting process of the Lokpal bill.
Dubbing the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre as "the most corrupt government ever seen by independent India", senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Saturday wanted the Lokpal bill to be passed in the next session of Parliament itself.
The Delhi Cabinet on Monday cleared the draft of the much talked-about Jan Lokpal bill which provides for covering all public servants -- from chief minister to Group D employees -- and seeks life term as maximum punishment for those found guilty of corruption.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee accused Bharatiya Janata Party of being responsible for the Rajya Sabha's failure to pass the Lokpal Bill by changing its stand within 24 hours.
The Lok Sabha is on Tuesday discussing on the much-talked-about Lokpal Bill.
With the Aam Aadmi Party's deadline of passing Jan Lokpal Bill nearing, the Delhi government on Tuesday said its draft was being finalised and it would be cleared in a cabinet meeting on Friday.
According to a Congress minister, who is handling the party's floor management in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress party, as on 5.30 pm on Thursday, does not have enough votes to pass the Lokpal bill in the Upper House of Parliament.
The government on Friday said the Lokpal Bill is ready and will be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval in its next meeting where a decision on whether to put the prime minister in its purview would be also taken.
Attacking the opposition for Rajya Sabha's failure to pass the Lokpal Bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal on Friday said the Bill will be taken up for consideration in the Budget Session of Parliament. "The conduct of the opposition, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha, showed that they were only interested in not passing the Bill," he told a press conference the night after the House was adjourned sine die abruptly.
The meeting of the Congress Core Group was held at a time when government is scrambling for numbers to pass the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha with Trinamool Congress insisting that it will move amendments to delete the provision for setting up Lokayuktas at the state level.
The Lokpal Bill, which seeks to curb corruption, has run into rough weather after the government objected strongly to certain clauses in the much-anticipated bill.The prime bone of contention during Monday's meeting between representatives of the civil society and the Centre was the proposed inclusion of both the prime minister and the judiciary within the purview of the Lokpal bill.
Justice Santosh Hegde, who was part of the drafting committee of the Jan Lokpal Bill, says that his biggest complaint with regard to the new government draft of the Bill was that no independent probing agency had been provided for the Lokpal.
The opposition strategy seems to be to get these amendments incorporated into the final bill that will then be put to vote. This will mean that the Congress may be forced to vote against the final bill, since it may not be in agreement with some of the amendments forced by the opposition.
Team Anna on Thursday demanded that the Citizen's Charter, specifying a time limit on government departments for providing services, should be included in the Lokpal Bill as it will help the common people to get their work done.
The inclusion of the Lokayukta factor in the bill approved by the Cabinet is expected to become a sticky point in Parliament. Sheela Bhatt reports.
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