Doubts Still Linger About The Passage Of Lok Pal Bill
Doubts linger on the fate of the sixth parliamentary attempt to enact a legislation for setting up the institution of the Lok Pal. The basic issue is whether parliamentarians are sincere about appointing their own invigilators. The bill provides powers to these invigilators to sit in judgement over the members' actions.
The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, which looked into various aspects of the draft Lok Pal Bill, 1996, strongly recommended that immediate steps be taken for passing the bill with certain modifications.
However, it is unlikely that the bill incorporating recommendations of the committee's report would be brought for parliamentary consideration in this session, which has only a few more days left for completion.
Union information and broadcasting minister and United Front spokesperson Jaipal Reddy candidly admitted that consideration of the Lok Pal bill was not possible during the remaining days of the budget session, which according to Reddy has got cannibalised.
We are determined to enact a legislation for setting up the Lok Pal in the next session, he told the Business Standard.
Reddy's words are unlikely to go well with the members of the standing committee, which worked overtime to present its findings within a record period of six months. Chairman of the committee Sompal was confident that the bill would be taken up for consideration during this session.
The committee's report has been prepared after seeking the opinion of major political parties and if the government has the will it can pass the bill this session. The session can be extended by a day or two to consider the bill, he suggested. I can prepare the draft in two days, Sompal said.
The committee was under pressure from former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his cabinet colleagues, who had told the committee members to work fast so that the government could at least try to enact the legislation. Gowda and his colleagues wanted to take credit for bringing the bill.
Committee members do not distinguish between the present government and Gowda's government and argue that the bill should be passed. Satya Pal Jain, who was involved in drafting the report said that the report, if accepted, would make the bill fool-proof.
He saw no reason for the government to reject the report. It is for the first time that a standing committee has considered the bill and the report is unanimous, meaning that all political parties have accepted the changes. The Congress was represented by senior leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Jagannath Mishra, he pointed out.
The United Front's common minimum programme has committed the Front to the institution of the Lok Pal, Reddy said, adding that I find the changes suggested in the standing committee's report to be positive.
Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet welcomed the changes and said the Left parties would play an active role in getting the bill passed. He admitted that there were a number of problems facing the bill and lamented that the Parliament is moving at a slow pace on this issue.
The Front leaders are worried at the reaction of the Congress, which, they hold, would be less amenable to giving wide powers to the Lok Pal. A senior Front leader said there was opposition to the bill even within the UF, particularly the Janata Dal.
The combined efforts of some of the Front partners and the Congress, which support the government from outside, is likely to derail the bill, a senior Left leader admitted privately. Reddy differed with this view slightly. He said there were many Congressmen who wanted to see the bill passed.
The BJP is likely to mount pressure on the government to bring the bill in this session itself, although it holds that the Front's internal contradictions would not allow it to do so.
About 90 per cent of the BJP's objections to the draft bill has been taken care of by the standing committee' report, party vice-president Bangaru Laxman pointed out and said the BJP would support the bill if all the changes are incorporated.
Public awareness on corruption has increased and the government has no option than to bring the bill for Parliament's consideration, he said. The plea of some parliamentarians that the corrupt leaders in the Congress and the UF would oppose it was not valid in view of judicial activism, which has made these leaders' life miserable, he said.
The main fear gripping the votaries of the Lok Pal is the fate of the present United Front government. Will the government survive the monsoon session to see through the bill is the moot question.
Laxman says the Front's unity is in real danger once the budget session is over. There is problem from the Laloo Yadav front, he pointed out. A Left leader said Sonia Gandhi's enrollment in the Congress as an active member could create problems for the Front's unity. The left is closely watching the political move of Tamil Maanila Congress leader GK Moopanar after this development, he added.
Despite sabre rattling, the fate of the Lokpal bill is unlikely to be different from that of its five earlier incarnations. The first, which was in the form of the Lok Pal and the Lokayuktas bill, was introduced in the Lok Sabha in, 1968. A Joint parliamentary committee studied the bill and presented its report in 1969. The Lok Sabha passed the bill but before it could be considered by the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha was dissolved, and the bill lapsed subsequently.
The same bill was introduced in the fifth Lok Sabha in 1971, but it also lapsed due to the dissolution of the House. The third attempt at setting up Lok Pal was in the form of the Lok Pal bill in 1977. A Joint parliamentary committee studied the bill and submitted its report in 1978. While the bill was being considered by the House, the sixth Lok Sabha was dissolved and the bill lapsed.
Another Lok Pal bill was introduced in 1985. The joint parliamentary committee, which considered the bill, recommended its withdrawal. The government argued that the bill should also have provision for redressal of citizens' grievances and offered to re-examine the entire issue. It withdrew the bill despite vehement opposition. The opposition parties wanted the bill be adopted after incorporating the necessary changes.
The Lok Pal bill, 1989, which forms the basis of the present 1996 Lok Pal bill, also lapsed with the dissolution of the ninth Lok Sabha. Left and BJP members said the uncertainty about the fate of the eleventh Lok Sabha was one reason for the political parties to act fast, if they were really serious about tackling corruption.