Hanging fire since 1968, will it be ninth time lucky for Lokpal?

It should come as a surprise that both politicians and civil society activists are clashing with each other in the war against corruption like medieval knights in shining armour giving battle to each other when the fact is that the Lokpal bill has been with the parliament from 1968 onwards.

Despite attempts by every government to make the ombudsman a reality, it has remained an elusive goal.

The bill was brought twice by the Congress under Indira Gandhi, in 1969 and 1971, once under Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. Then it was the turn of the Opposition to flirt with the Lokpal Bill under prime ministers Morarji Desai in 1977, VP Singh in 1989, Deve Gowda in 1996, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998 and 2001.

Team Anna Hazare would argue that it is this aborted history spread over 40 years that has forced its hand to launch a popular movement to push the government of the day to make Lokpal a reality. But they should have mentioned the fact that Lokpal is not a new remedy for an old malaise but an old remedy for an old malaise.

It is interesting that the first Lokpal recommended by the Morarji Desai-headed Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) — a similar ARC was headed by the present Union law minister Veerappa Moily — as a watchdog over bureaucrats not doing their job, and the harassed citizens could lodge their complaints with it.

The first Lokpal was intended to be a real ombudsman — keeping an eye on public servants who would not do their job. It was not solely meant against corrupt officials. That is, there could be an honest officer but if he did not do his job a citizen has a right to bring a complaint against him. But such is high decibel level on corruption, that some of the basic issues like an inefficient administration system is drowned out.

In 1977, the Janata Party government brought its own Lokpal, and this was the first time that the prime minister was brought under its ambit. Again, the short-lived post-Emergency government led by Desai fell and the bill lapsed.

The bill came up afresh in 1985 and this time it was Rajiv Gandhi who was the prime minister. Interestingly, the prime minister’s office was kept out of the Lokpal’s ambit along with the speaker of Lok Sabha, chief justice of India and other Supreme Court judges. The bill was withdrawn because there was no agreement on many of the key issues, including regarding the prime minister being in the Lokpal’s ambit.

But in the wake of the Bofors controversy, which involved allegations against Rajiv Gandhi himself, the prime minister was back in the Lokpal ambit in the 1989 version brought in by VP Singh.

In the 2001 bill, the prime minister and members of parliament were brought under the Lokpal following the Supreme Court judgment in 1998 in the PV Narasimha Rao vs State case where it was declared that MPs were public servants. This version of the Lokpal bill was based on this assumption.

The other interesting point of contention in the 1999 bill, which was finally introduced in 2001 was that whether Lokpal could take up complaints suo motu. Home ministry officials told the committee that even courts do not take cases suo motu. It was then decided to leave the matter to parliament.

Most of the time, the Lokpal bill was introduced in August. The first Lopal Bill was passed on August 20, 1969 in the Lok Sabha, but it lapsed after the Rajya Sabha could not pass it as elections were announced and Lok Sabha was dissolved.

In 1971, the bill was introduced on August 11; in 1985 on August 26; in 1998 on August 3; and in 2001 on August 14. It is most likely that the latest version of the bill will be introduced in the month of August as well. More than these coincidences, the history of Lokpal in parliament shows two things.

First, all political parties across the ideological spectrum have flirted with the Lokpal as a way of ensuring their political legitimacy and credibility. Second, the focus of the Lokpal became excessively focused on corruption and not on mal-administration.