Lokpal selection process has started, won't stop due to one member's refusal: Narayanswamy

Commenting on eminent jurist Fali Nariman's refusal to join the Lokpal search committee panel, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V Narayanswamy on Thursday said the process of selecting the Lokpal has started and will not stopped due one member's refusal to join the panel.

"It is up to the person to accept whether they want to be on the selection panel or not. It does not mean that the procedure has not been followed. We can't make it an issue out of it. Some members have given their consent. The communication has been issued by our department.

"The bill has been passed; one of the members of selection committee was selected. There are 8 members, out of whom some have given their consent letters," he added.

He asserted that the process has been started, and added that it is not going to stop due to the refusal of one member.

On Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley's letters to the Prime Minister raising concerns over the interference of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in the selection of the members of the Lokpal, Narayanswamy said, "The rule is very clear. The nodal ministry for the purpose of starting the process is the DoPT. I think, he hasn't read the rules clearly and have written those letters."

"The PM has duly replied to his letters. Therefore, we are following the due process," he added.

Earlier today, Nariman in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had refused to join the Lokpal Search Committee panel.

"I decline the honour. In my humble view this is no way in which an institution as vital and as important as the Lokpal should be constituted," he wrote in his letter.