The meeting of joint drafting committee came to a close today with Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal telling the media that the draft of the Lokpal Bill would be out by June 30.
It is now official: the government and Anna Hazare-led civil society members are divided over the Lokpal Bill. Both sides failed to reach a consensus on most of the issues at Wednesday’s meeting of the joint drafting committee.
Though meetings are scheduled for June 20 and 21, the government and Team Anna will present their versions of the bill which will be placed before the Union cabinet by June 30 before being tabled in Parliament.
“It is very clear that there was no consensus on crucial issues,” Union minister Kapil Sibal said. “If there is no consensus, the government will give its version and the civil society members theirs.” Sibal is one of the government representatives in the 10-member joint drafting committee.
The meeting, seventh in the series, lasted for more than two hours. But it was not good, Arvind Kejriwal, RTI activist, said.
“Nothing could be achieved and the government’s intention is now clear,” he said. “The Lokpal model that the government wants will ensure that it is dead even before it is born. It clearly shows that the government does not want to eradicate corruption. All the meetings were nothing but just an eyewash — a mere formality.”
He said the government had already made up its mind. “They don’t discuss anything in the meeting, they just announce their decisions. But we will not boycott the next two meetings. We will give our version.” Kejriwal did not sound too hopeful about the outcome of both versions reaching the cabinet. “What will the cabinet do? It is their cabinet.”
The constitution of the Lokpal was a bone of contention for both sides. While the Hazare team proposed an 11-member independent anti-corruption watchdog with subordinates having powers, the government wanted only 11 members who would be empowered to take decisions.
“They want to create a Lokpal without any administrative or investigative machinery - an emaciated and disempowered Lokpal,” the civil society said in a statement. “We wanted a Lokpal with officers working under it at the district level, who would have powers to deal with cases at local level. The government refuses to accept this model.”
Both Sibal and Kejriwal said there were no talks on keeping the prime minister under the Lokpal’s purview.
The civil society members had boycotted the June 6 meeting as a mark of protest against the police action on Baba Ramdev at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan. The previous meeting on May 30 was stormy with both sides opposing each other over including the prime minister, the judiciary, the conduct of MPs in Parliament and lower level bureaucrats in the Lokpal’s ambit.
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