The Joint Drafting Committee comprising five Union ministers and as many representatives of civil society to frame an effective anti-graft law will hold its second meeting tomorrow to discuss the latest version of the Jan Lok Pal Bill prepared by Gandhian Anna Hazare’s team.
Ahead of the meeting, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the panel’s chairman will hold a strategy session with government representatives to firm up Centre’s stand on the latest draft of the Bill, among other things it envisages a provision empowering the office of the Lok Pal to intercept telephone conversations.
Top officials of the law ministry who have gone through the draft, will make a presentation on the salient features before the ministers.
The second meeting comes against the backdrop of differences on the coverage of the judiciary in the anti-graft legislation.
At a round-table organised recently, two former Chief Justices of India — J S Verma and M N Venkatachalaiah — had opposed inclusion of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts in the proposed legislation.
The latest version has a new clause, Clause 13-C, which gives wide powers to “an appropriate bench of the Lok Pal” to “approve interception and monitoring of messages or data or voice transmitted through telephones, internet or any other medium as covered under the India Telegraph Act, read with Information and Technology Act, 2000.”
At present, the powers to intercept telephonic communications is vested with the Home Ministry.
Another new provision in this draft is for setting up of a separate “prosecution wing” for the office of the Lok Pal, which is already envisaged to have powers to investigate.
