On Effective Lokpal Bill

Indications are that the Lokpal bill will be taken up in the Loksabha on December 21 and in Rajyasabha on the following day, if the Government manages to resolve sticky issues. Although the winter session of the Parliament ends on 22^nd December, the Government can extend it for one more day for this purpose.

The Lokpal bill should include the following main points, if it has to be an effective bill:

1. It is almost agreed that the Prime Minister will be brought under the purview of the Lokpal, with certain safeguards regarding matters related to national security, external affairs etc. But it should be ensured that protection is not given on this plea for the involvement of the Prime Minister’s office in the commercial transactions pertaining to the defence etc.
2. It is necessary to bring judiciary under the purview of a National Judicial Commission to curtail corruption in the judicial system effectively.
3. Without reforming the electoral system, it is not possible to curtail corruption. It is necessary to curtail the power of the money in the elections for MLAs, MPs and other representatives. Electoral reforms are required for this.
4. It is necessary to bring the government officials of all grades under the purview of Lokpal to deal with the problem of corruption faced by the ordinary people. There is a consensus on this. But there should be proper mechanism and rules to deal with such a large number of employees. The effectiveness of this mechanism depends on the concrete proposals of the Government in this regard.
5. Lokpal should have its own investigating agency under the special powers of prevention of corruption act. To enquire corruption cases, the CBI should be brought under the purview of the Lokpal or there should be an independent investigation agency for this purpose.
6. In any case, the selection of CBI director should be by an agreed independent selection committee. Similarly the selection of the Chairman and members of the Lokpal should be done by an agreed independent selection committee. In the Lokpal, there should be proper representation to SC,ST,OBC,minorities and women. A search committee should prepare the names of the persons to be considered by the selection committee.
7. The definition of corruption under the prevention of corruption act. It takes into consideration mainly the bribe taker, but not so much the bribe giver. Due to this, those who are giving bribes to get undue benefit are escaoing. Therefore it is necessary to bring all acts which are causing loss to the exchequer under the purview of the definition of corruption.
8. The MPs can have the protections provided by the constitution, but these protections should not be made applicable to corrupt activities, by amending article 105 of the constitution. Otherwise as happened in the case of no confidence motion against the P.V.Narasimharao Government, those who gave bribe will be punished and the MP who took bribe will be left out.
9. To curtail the corruption encouraged by the Corporates for their undue benefit, the Lokpal should be empowered to inquire all the cases of corruption where the Corporates are involved and it should be empowered to recommend for the cancellation of the licenses/contracts of such Corporates and to keep such Corporates in blacklist, along with collecting the amount from them to compensate the loss inflicted by them on the exchequer.

The Government should consider these aspects before finalizing the bill.

(Based on the note submitted by the CPI(M) to the Standing Committeeof the Parliament)