As per the details available with the press, the committee has recommended keeping the judiciary, MPs' conduct in House and lower bureaucracy out of the Lokpal purview, besides rejecting the demand for hiving off the prosecution wing of CBI to come under its jurisdiction.
“We have not seen the standing committee report but why are the judiciary and the lower bureaucracy being kept out of the purview of the Lokpal?” he questioned.
He said that as per the ‘sense of the house’ resolution passed by the Parliament, the lower bureaucracy had to be kept under the Lokpal.
“Ration theft is being done by group C and D employees, as is also the case with the irregularities in MNREGA…Now they will be free to do corruption. 95% of corruption cases will be out if lower bureaucracy not included,” he said. The panel has favoured the inclusion of Group B, along with Group A officials.
Vis-a-vis Team Anna's demand for scrapping Article 311 of the Constitution that gives protection to government servants against summary dismissal, the draft report favours a "close and careful relook" to ensure major obstacles in taking legitimate departmental action against delinquent officials are eliminated.
The report said bureaucratic corruption has been relatively ignored in the context of excessive media and civil society focus on political corruption, coupled with the doctrine of civil service anonymity, which India imported from the colonial rule.
Speaking to reporters, Kejriwal also added that the non inclusion of the key elements of the Citizen’s Charter is also a U-turn by the government.
In CBI being not brought under the Lokpal, he said, “The country knows how CBI has being misused by political parties to meet political ends,” he said, adding that the government appears unwilling to let go of controlling the CBI.
Besides the above mentioned contentious issues, the draft document has not also taken a position on inclusion of Prime Minister in the ambit of Lokpal. The issue will be considered when the panel meets tomorrow.
Various options, including inclusion of Prime Minister with safeguards and coverage after demitting office, have been suggested.
Kejriwal said, “It (government’s Lokpal Bill) will be an empty tin box.”
The draft report on the bill, which has been circulated to members and would come up for finalisation on tomorrow, favours Lokpal's jurisdiction over corporates, media and NGOs in so far as receipt of donations from public within the country or from foreign sources.
Kejriwal disagreed on this point as well and opined that corruption in media and NGOs should be checked by a different mechanism.
On whether the whole Anna movement is back at square one, Kejriwal was guarded in his response. He said, “Let us wait and watch. It would be immature to comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment