Link punishment of corrupt officials to rank: Hazare's team

Civil society members are expected to make a strong pitch for graver punishment, including life imprisonment for high ranking officials in cases of corruption, when the joint committee to draft the Lok Pal Bill meets here tomorrow.

They will also demand that a corrupt government official serve a minimum of one year rigorous imprisonment and a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

"Punishment shall be higher if the status or rank of the accused is higher," reads a recommendation of the civil society members led by Anna Hazare.

These issues were discussed by the Joint Drafting Committee on Lok Pal Bill chaired by Pranab Mukherjee during a meeting last week.

Hazare's team also wants to bring within the purview of the Lok Pal, conduct of MPs inside Parliament, if it is an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A proposal to this effect was made during the meeting of the joint drafting committee on May 23.

Hazare's team and the government had agreed in principle on a provision to attach the properties of corrupt government officials on completion of investigation of charges against them.

They also agreed on recovering the losses caused by the corrupt officials by auctioning the properties acquired by using 'ill gotten' wealth.

However, there were differences on when to issue the notification on the list of assets of an official. The proposal states that the assets cannot be transferred after issuance of the notification.