Constitutional validity of Lokayukta within Lokpal Bill

Attorney General G E Vahanvati was also asked by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee looking into the Lokpal Bill whether the opinion of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) or a judge nominated by him will prevail upon other members of the Select Committee on Lokpal.

The members wanted to know whether opinions of all the members in the Select Committee have equal weightage.

Sources said the issue of weightage of members' opinions arose after some members, quoting certain judicial pronouncements, felt that suggestions or recommendation of the CJI may prevail upon others.

While the government had initially proposed setting up of Lokayuktas in states along with Lokpal at the Centre, in a bid to allay concerns of states and political parties, including allies, it has decided to delink the provision of Lokayuktas from the Lokpal Bill.

The government has proposed that the Lokpal Bill will have provisions for a model law for setting up Lokayukta in states.

The Committee, which has so far taken the opinions of the Department of Personnel, the Law Ministry and the CBI on the issue, is supposed to table its report before the end of the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning on August 8.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid had recently said that if the report is tabled on time, the government could move ahead on getting the measure passed in Rajya Sabha.