Briefing the media after a meeting of the Government-Civil society joint committee on drafting the bill, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said that both sides have taken took a historic step and presented their perspective on the proposed legislation.
The meeting of the 10-member Joint Committee was chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Former Law Minister Shanti Bhusan, who is the co-chairman of the committee presented a draft of the Jan Lok Pal Bill to Mukherjee, while the Government side circulated the draft of the Parliament Standing Committee on Lok Pal bill. Sibal said, the entire meeting was audio-recorded and whenever decisions are taken they would be made public. He said, the next meeting scheduled for May 2 is expected to discuss the two drafts in detail and they will also decide on the modality of public consultations on the legislation. The two sides expressed the hope that the new bill would be ready by June 30, the deadline set in the notification constituting the committee.
Prashant Bhushan, one of the civil society representatives on the committee also expressed satisfaction over the discussions and hoped that this would finally lead to an independent Lok Pal in the country to fight corruption at higher places. He said, all concerned organisations will be consulted as part of the public consultations through websites and regional consultations. He said that the actual modalities would be decided in the next meeting.
Prashant Bhusan said India is a signatory to the UN Convention against Corruption which is in the process of being ratified. The Convention requires an independent Lok pal for which an adequate Bill will be made through discussions.
Besides, Pranab Mukherjee and Sibal, the meeting was attended by Home Minister Chidambaram, Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid from the government side, while Civil Society was represented by Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Hegde and father-son Bhusan duo.