News-Consensus on strong and effective Lokpal Bill

All Party Meet Meet- Consensus on strong and effective Lokpal Bill
An all party meeting convened by the Prime Minister in New Delhi last evening agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal Bill following the established procedures.

According to the sources, who attended the meeting, the political parties have asked the government to first table the bill in Parliament so that a proper discussion on the issue could follow.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Prime Minister reiterated government's commitment to enact a Lokpal Act, which provides for a strong, effective and quick institutional arrangement for tackling corruption at high places.

Dr Manmohan Singh reaffirmed that the bill will be presented before Parliament in the coming Monsoon Session.

Urging the parties to arrive at the widest possible consensus, he assured that their views will be appropriately taken into account while presenting a suitable bill in Parliament.

Acknowledging that the corruption is a major issue today, the Prime Minister drew the attention of the political parties to the fact that there are enough legal and institutional arrangements in place to tackle corruption.

Dr Manmohan Singh noted that there is a feeling that the institutional arrangements in place are not strong enough to ensure that the guilty, especially those occupying high positions, are brought to book swiftly and given deterrent punishment.

The Prime Minister emphasised that to achieve the objective, the Lokpal has to work in harmony with other institutions and laws and within the framework of the basic structure of the Constitution.

He underlined that the Constitution provides for an intricate system of checks and balances and the new institution of Lokpal has to find an appropriate place in that matrix.

Dr Manmohan Singh had convened the meeting of all political parties in the backdrop of differences between the representatives of government and civil society in the drafting committee on certain provisions of the bill.

After the meeting, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said her party did not agree with a number of provisions of government's Lokpal bill like selection and jurisdiction. She said, BJP will present views on Lokpal bill when it is discussed in Parliament.

The meeting was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, union ministers - Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M Veerappa Moily, Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel (both NCP), and T R Baalu (DMK) were among UPA constituents to attend the deliberations.

The Opposition was represented by BJP leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, NDA Convenor and JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav, S S Dhindsa of SAD, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja (both CPI), Lalu Prasad (RJD) and V Maitreyan and M Thambidurai (both AIADMK), S C Mishra (BSP) and Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) at the meeting.

The government is learnt to have presented to the parties a comparative draft of the provisions of the Lokpal Bill suggested by the civil society and those put forward by the five union ministers in the Joint Drafting Committee.