Govt, civil society talks on Lok Pal Bill fail

Talks between government and Anna Hazare-led civil society failed to make headway today and the two sides to agreed to meet again on June 20 and 21 to bridge "strong divergence" of opinion.

In view of the differences over various elements of the proposed Lok Pal Bill, it was decided at the two-and-half hour meeting of the joint drafting committee that a note will be sent to the Union Cabinet by June 30, carrying versions of both the sides.

The Anna Hazare-led civil society members suggested that Lok Pal 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 discussed in the meeting was the structure of Lok Pal. The Hazare team proposed a 11-member independent anti-corruption watchdog with subordinates having powers while the government side differed arguing that only 11 members be empowered to take decisions.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said the committee will again meet on June 20 and 21 in an attempt to bridge differences.

"It is clear there are areas where there are strong divergence of opinion...Hopefully the civil society members will give us a draft on issues of divergence. We ourselves will prepare a draft on the issues on which we think there are divergence and we will try and arrive at a consensus.

"If no consensus is not arrived, then we will forward a draft bill with both versions so that the Cabinet can take a view," he said. The process will be completed by June 30.

Claiming that nothing could be achieved from today's meeting, activist Arvind Kejriwal said, "the government is trying to kill the Lok Pal even before it is born."