Winter Session extended for Lok Pal Bill

Parliament's Winter Session has been extended by three days from December 27 to facilitate the passage of the Lok Pal Bill and some other key legislations.

The draft note on the bill has been cleared by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and will be taken up by the Cabinet tonight.

"The Winter Session of Parliament has been extended by three days from December 27," a senior minister said here.

The Lok Pal Bill, Judicial Accountability Bill and Whistleblowers' Bill will be taken up for consideration and passing during the extended Winter Session, he said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had sounded BJP Parliamentary Party leader L K Advani on the move.

The Opposition parties had sought discussion on the three key legislations that are part of the government's strategy to tackle corruption.

 Among the major amendments in the Lok Pal Bill are bringing the Prime Minister under the purview of Lok Pal with certain conditions, providing supervisory powers to Lok Pal over CBI in corruption cases referred by it and changing the selection process of CBI chief.

A separate mechanism for dealing with corruption in Group C and D is also being evolved.

The government has been racing against time to firm up the anti-graft Bill in view of the looming threat of Anna Hazare to go on hunger strike from December 27 if Parliament fails to pass a strong Lok Pal Bill.