New Delhi, Nov 3: Team Anna today appeared before a Parliamentary panel scrutinising the Lokpal Bill and suggested a series of amendments to the government bill to bring it in line with the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill. They said while Team Anna was open to bringing constitutional amendments, it should not cause any delay in implementing it in the states.
Team Anna members Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel and Law and Justice and suggested 34 amendments to the government's version of the measure.
“We had a very good and positive meeting with the Standing Committee in which we explained the amendments we are seeking in the government's Lokpal Bill which are in order to bring the government's bill in line with the Jan Lokpal Bill and in line with Uttarakhand's Lokayukta Bill which was passed yesterday,” Prashant Bhushan told reporters after the meeting.
He said all the provisions that Team Anna had suggested in the Lokayuktas, which are para materia with the Lokpal, have been incorporated by the Uttarakhand assembly in their bill.
“We explained all the reasons for seeking all the amendments in the government's bill,” he said adding that they will face questions from committee members tomorrow when Anna Hazare is also expected to be present.
Kejriwal said that Team Anna suggested to the Committee to make the Uttarakhand Lokayukta bill as a model and all the states should have a Lokayukta on those lines.
“The Centre should also follow the same model,” he said.
The Uttarakhand government tabled in the Assembly the Lokayukta Bill bringing under its purview the Chief Minister, ministers and government servants, including IAS and IPS officers, and with a provision for punishment extending up to life imprisonment.
Referring to the recent statement of Law Minister Salman Khurshid to make Lokpal into a constitutional body, Kejriwal said while they “welcome” such a move, the amendment should be so drafted that there is no need for the states to ratify it or it will become an issue of delay.
“We hope two-third majority will pass it in Parliament as there is a broad consensus for the Bill.”
Former Chief Justice of India Justice J S Verma had recently said that such an amendment was possible.
“If a constitutional amendment is being made, then the Law Commission's recommendation of 2001 to amend Article 105 should be accepted. As per the recommendation, if MPs speak in Parliament or vote on basis of bribery taken by them, then the investigation should be held independently...We told this to the Committee,” Kejriwal said.
He said since there is a move to amend the Constitution, Article 311 - which says that a bureaucrat's punishment can be decided by no less than the appointing authority - should also be amended.
“...We suggested that the word Lokpal should be added along with the term appointing authority,” he said.
Among the major amendments mooted by Team Anna on the lines of its Jan Lokpal Bill are bringing the office of the Prime Minister and the judiciary under the ambit of the proposed Lokpal, power to tap phones without the authorisation of the Union Home Secretary and merging CBI with the ombudsman.
Seeking to enhance the jurisdiction of Lokpal, Team Anna said government bill's position that PM could be investigated only after he demits office violates constitution as he does not enjoy any such immunity.
