Uf Firm On Tabling Lok Pal Report, But Session May Not Pass Bill

There were clear indications yesterday that the report of the parliamentary standing committee on home on the controversial Lok Pal bill would be finalised towards the end of the budget session of Parliament beginning today, but there is unlikely to be enough time for it to be passed in this session.

Som Pal, chairman of the committee, told Business Standard that the report is likely to be finalised and placed before Parliament towards the later part of the budget session.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda told floor leaders of various parties yesterday that the government was determined to have the bill passed during the budget session. He also called on leader of the opposition A B Vajpayee in the evening.

The BJP, however, had its doubts on the bills passage during this session. Partys deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Jaswant Singh said the bill has to pass many hurdles. But he admitted that the government is serious about the bill. The principal preoccupation of the government seems to be the Lok Pal bill, he remarked.

The committee met today and heard the deposition of former secretary-general of the Lok Sabha C K Jain. He is one of the former officials of the Lok Sabha who have been invited to depose, others being Subhash Kashyap and Rikhi. Another former official, S L Shakdhar, has declined to appear before the committee.

According to Som Pal, the secretary of the department of personnel and training has already deposed before the committee. In all, four sets of people would be invited to depose; of these C K Jain belonged to the first set: former officials of Parliament.

The second set comprises judicial officers. Som Pal said those invited in this set included Justices V R Krishna Iyer, V M Tarkunde, P N Bhagwati, H R Khanna and Sodhi (former lokayukta of Punjab). The third set comprising former bureaucrats includes N N Vohra, J N Dixit and S P Shukla. The fourth set comprises eminent journalists, and includes B G Verghese, H K Dua and Prabhash Joshi.

After these individuals depose before the committee, the members will discuss their depositions and then formulate the report. We hope to present the report to parliament towards the later part of the budget session, Som Pal said.