Many proposals made by Hazare team missing from govt draft

Powers to tap phones, issuance of letters rogatory and recommendations for changes in work practices to reduce scope for corruption are among the proposals made by the Anna Hazare team in their Jan Lok Pal Bill. These do not find mention in the government draft.

The draft submitted to the joint committee on Lok Pal Bill by the Hazare team also seeks power to the proposed ombudsman to acquire modern equipment necessary for proper investigation and inquire into asset declaration statements filed by all MPs.

According to the Jan Lok Pal Bill, an approporiate bench of Lok Pal shall be deemed to be “designated authority under Section V of the Indian Telegraph Act, empowered to approve interception and monitoring of messages of data or voice transmitted through telephones, internet or any other medium...”

 

In the section of the civil society’s draft that concerned powers and functions of the Lok Pal and its officers, the ombudsman could authorise a bench of the Lok Pal to issue letters rogatory in relation to any case pending investigation.

This provision is in contrast to the stand taken by the Hazare team in the fourth meeting of the joint drafting committee, held on May 23, when lawyer Shanti Bhushan clarified that the intent was to allow Lok Pal to directly approach the court for letters rogatory and not to route such requests through the government.

Bhushan’s comment came after Home Minister P Chidambaram pointed out that the power of issuance of letters rogatory was within the domain of the courts. A letter rogatory is a formal request from a court to a foreign court for some judicial assistance.

According to the civil society draft, the Lok Pal should have powers to make recommendations to public authorities, to make changes in their work practices to reduce the scope of corruption and whistle blower victimisation.

Their draft makes it mandatory that public authorities should send its “compliance report to the Lok Pal within two months of specifying detailed reasons, wherever they choose to or reject any of these recommendations”.

The civil society draft also seeks power for the Lok Pal to recommend cancellation or modification of a lease, licence, permission, contract or agreement, if it was obtained by corrupt means and blacklisting of a firm, company or contractor or any other person involved in corruption.

On the merger of the anti-corruption wing of CBI with the Lok Pal, the Hazare team’s draft says Centre shall cease to have any control over this unit. Earlier, the civil society side had been demanding the merger of Central Vigilance Commission into the Lok Pal but it did not find mention in their new draft.

The government has been arguing that shifting of the CBI under the umbrella of the Lok Pal would deny the Executive its own investigative wing for taking care of other issues.