Will not attend further meetings of Lokpal panel: Santosh Hegde

Karnataka lok ayukta (ombudsman) N Santosh Hegde said Saturday that he will not attend further meetings of the Lokpal bill draft panel as he has prior commitments.

“There is no question of withdrawing from the panel though I will not be able to attend further meetings as I have commitments to meet,” he told said.

He said: "A suggestion has been made that the prime minister and judges should be under the Lokpal, but the government has rejected it."

Hegde, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, is one of the five civil society members on the 10-member panel that includes five central cabinet ministers.

The other civil society members are Gandhian Anna Hazare, social activist Arvind Kejriwal and lawyers Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant.

The government side is represented by Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M Veerappa Moily and Salman Khursheed.