Briefing the media after the 7th meeting of the Drafting Committee this evening, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said that there was lack of consensus on various important aspects of the proposed Bill.
He said in the next meeting on June 20, the Government and Civil Society’s representatives will present separate drafts of the bill, which will then be sent to the cabinet.
Sibal, however, reaffirmed that the draft would be ready by June 30 and the bill would be presented in the Monsoon session of Parliament.
The Anna Hazare-led civil society members suggested that Lokpal should be empowered top probe corruption cases against officials doing away with the practice of conducting departmental probe along with a CBI enquiry.
However, the government members rejected. The other issue which was discussed in Wednesday’s meeting was the structure of Lokpal.
While the civil society proposed an 11-member independent anti-corruption watchdog with subordinates having powers, the government side differed arguing that only 11 members be empowered to take decisions.
Briefing the media, noted lawyer and civil society activist Prashant Bhusnan alleged that the government was not serious about enacting a strong Lok Pal Bill to fight corruption. He said, the government wants 11 member Lok Pal without investigative and vigilance machinery under it, which was not acceptable to them.