Congress President Sonia Gandhi has convened a special meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Friday at 4 pm to discuss the Lokpal bill which has been consistently in the news for the last couple of months. Sources say the ongoing Telangana agitation is also expected to be discussed.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Lokpal Bill will meet in New Delhi on September 7 to decide its procedure to fast track the comprehensive exercise for formulating a strong legislation. It will kick off its work by hearing Central Bureau of Investigation director A P Singh and Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar who have been sent notices to appear before it.
Dismissing suggestions that Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's idea of giving constitutional status to Lokpal Bill was a delaying tactic by the Congress, the ruling party made it clear that it was for the collective wisdom of the Standing Committee and Parliament to accept the proposal.
Arvind Kejriwal's most awaited Lokpal bill may remain just a poll promise. The proposed Lokpal cannot exercise any police power, say advocate Vishwanath Chaturvedi.
Backtracking on his Sunday's statement, Anna Hazare on Monday stuck to his August 15 deadline for passage of the Lokpal bill failing which he will resort to agitation.
Putting up a brave front after it failed to muster the numbers in the Rajya Sabha, the United Progressive Alliance government on Friday said the Lokpal Bill will "definitely" be brought before the Rajya Sabha during the Budget session even as Congress leader Digvijay Singh defended the move saying extension of the House on Thursday night was not possible.
Preparing for a showdown, Aam Aadmi Party government tonight said it was going ahead with tabling of the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi assembly on Thursday notwithstanding Union Law Ministry's view that Centre's prior approval was required for it even as Congress and BJP held the move by the ruling dispensation as "unconstitutional".
After much delay, the landmark Lokpal Bill was on Tuesday passed by the Rajya Sabha, marking a step closer to enactment of a new law under which an anti-corruption ombudsman would be set up.
Disappointed over the draft report of the Standing Committee on Lokpal Bill, Team Anna member Kiran Bedi has warned that going back on the commitment given by Parliament would encourage a mass movement again. When asked for her comments on the draft report which sought to keep lower bureaucracy out of the ambit of the ombudsman, Bedi said, "This is going back on the commitment and will call for mass movement again".
The Central Vigilance Commission on Saturday indicated it did not want to come under Lokpal but work closely with the proposed anti-corruption ombudsman.
Under attack for his comments on Anna Hazare, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari on Wednesday opted out of the Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal issue even as Bharatiya Janata Party inducted two new members in the panel being reconstituted after its term ended today.
Government on Friday ruled out replacing its Lokpal Bill with another, saying it will be better to have amendments to the one already introduced.
All four formulations of the Lokpal Bill have a common feature that addresses a major obstacle to anti-corruption legislation. However, the four versions differ on several aspects.
Notices have been given by various members for discussion in the Lok Sabha on various versions of Lokpal Bill, but it is not clear when the debate will be taken up.
"The civil society members on the joint drafting committee presented a document with respect to the objects of the bill as well as a document which enunciated the general principles underlying the bill," HRD Minister and government representative in the committee Kapil Sibal told media persons after the second meeting of the committee.
Civil society members of the joint committee on Lokpal will seek a referendum on the points of difference with government representatives including the issue of bringing the prime minister and the higher judiciary under the ambit of the anti-graft ombudsman.
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.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has said she was against bringing the prime minister under the Lokpal's ambit as it would undermine his authority and pave way for a 'parallel government.'
Union Minority Welfare Minister Salman Khursid, a key member of the joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill, on Monday defended the government's approach as 'sensitive and lenient' and said none could be above the existing parliamentary system.
The Aam Aadmi Party government is unlikely to table the anti-graft Jan Lokpal Bill on the first day of the assembly session beginning on Thursday.
The Delhi cabinet on Friday decided to call a special session of the assembly to take up the Jan Lokpal Bill that seeks to punish corrupt officials on February 16 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium instead of the historic Ramlila ground as announced by ruling Aam Aadmi Party earlier.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that there is a need for a strong Lokpal Bill to deal with the menace of corruption.
Civil society members of the joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill on Monday submitted two documents to the government outlining "principles and objects" for the proposed legislation.
The government draft on the Lokpal Bill, which is expected to be considered by the Cabinet this week, does not include the prime minister in the purview of the ombudsman but the final call on the ticklish issue will be taken by Parliament and its Standing Committee. Disclosing this, Home Minister P Chidambaram said the Bill will be introduced in Parliament in the monsoon session starting on August 1.
Noted filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and eminent historian K N Panikkar have raised questions on Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement, accusing him of adopting an "authoritarian" approach in selecting civil society members in the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Venkiah Naidu on Thursday charged the United Progressive Alliance government of adopting 'double standards' over the Jan Lokpal Bill. Naidu said the party would meet in Delhi on Friday to decide its stand on the Bill ahead of an all party meeting called by the Centre on July 3.
The roller-coaster ride of the government-civil society joint drafting committee on the Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill has ended in a draw, but left both sides badly injured. Whether the tie will be broken when they present their separate recommendations to a proposed all-party committee in July remains an open question.
Noted social worker Swami Agnivesh differed with Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejiriwal -- members of the civil society on the Lokpal Bill drafting panel -- that the talks with the government failed to yield substantial results.
Government and civil society exercise to work out an agreed draft of the Lokpal Bill ended in failure tonight after which Anna Hazare announced that he will go ahead with his fast from August 16 to "teach the government a lesson".
Software icon N R Narayana Murthy on Saturday backed Anna Hazare's movement against corruption and favoured the Prime Minister's Office and the judiciary coming under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. The chairman and chief mentor of Infosys also supported people's movements taking to the streets to demand an end to corruption."I think in a democracy, pluralism is inevitable. It has to be there. That is what makes democracy stronger," Murthy told reporters.
The government on Thursday amended the controversial Lokpal Bill, de-inking it from the setting up of Lokayuktas in the states and transferring powers of sanction of prosecution against public servant to the ombudsman. The Union Cabinet accepted 14 of the 16 recommendations made by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee, which was set up in May last year amid sharp differences among political parties, because of which the legislation has been stuck in the Upper House.
Amid the standoff with Team Anna over the Lokpal Bill, the government has convened an all-party meeting tomorrow to find a way to solve the issue. Leaders of all political parties have been invited to attend the meet scheduled for 3.30 pm on Wednesday.
The government on Wednesday said it wants to bring the bill to set up anti-corruption ombudsman, Lokpal, in Rajya Sabha during the first part of the current Budget session of Parliament.
Uncertainty surrounds the passage of the Lokpal and whistleblowers' protection Bills in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Vicky Nanjappa and Sharat Pradhan ask a few intellectuals on the campaign against the Bhushans and what happens next.
Sheela Bhatt traces how Parliament's Standing Committee on the Lokpal Bill is giving final shape to its report, finds out what the key clauses could be and discovers the political difficulties in finalising a complex legal issue before the winter session ends.
Threatening to launch a "big protest" for a strong Lokpal bill, social activist Anna Hazare on Friday said that the government will have to go if it does not bring a strong anti-corruption law.
The new Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill and a related Constitution Amendment Bill to grant the proposed ombudsman a constitutional status were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, withdrawing an earlier Lokpal Bill, after hours of wrangle and adjournment twice.
Alleging that ruling Congress is "not serious" about bringing Lokpal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party has said that the United Progressive Alliance government could have brought the anti-graft legislation long ago as there was consensus over the issue.
With allegations levelled against its own members, India Against Corruption on Friday announced setting up of a three-member panel of retired judges to probe the charges against its prominent members, including Prashant Bhushan and Anjali Damania.
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