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After eight attempts — the first was in 1968 — and rising pressure from an anti-graft agitation that began in 2011, Parliament on Wednesday passed the Lokpal Bill, paving the way for the setting up of anti-corruption watchdogs at the Centre and State level.
The Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2013, passed by the Lok Sabha in December 2011, underwent some amendments before being approved by the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The amended Bill, which brings the Prime Minister within its ambit, was passed by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha after Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena members staged a walkout in protest.
Welcoming the Bill’s passage, 76-year-old social activist Anna Hazare broke his fast, into its ninth day, in Ralegaon Siddhi, Maharashtra.
Hazare, who set the anti-graft agitation in motion by going on an indefinite fast in Delhi in 2011, thanked all parties for supporting the Bill. He said he would form “watchdog bodies” in States and districts to keep an eye on how the law was being enforced.
Incidentally, on Monday, Aam Aadmi Party Convenor and former Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal termed the Bill “weak” and ineffective”.
Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, flayed the Congress for taking credit for the Bill’s passage. She said if anyone deserved credit, it was the old man (Hazare) who went on a fast several times and the people of the country who “put pressure on us to pass such a Bill”.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said the Bill alone was not enough to fight corruption. “What we need is a comprehensive anti-corruption code,” he said, suggesting extension of the Winter Session to pass six more Bills that were “part of the comprehensive anti-corruption framework.”
Calling the Bill “dangerous” as it would lead to “fear of taking decisions”, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav sought further discussion.
The highlights According to the Bill, the Lokpal will consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members, of whom half will be judicial members.
Fifty per cent of the Lokpal members shall be SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women.
The chairperson and members will be chosen by a selection committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India or a sitting Supreme Court judge nominated by the CJI, and an eminent jurist to be nominated by the President of India on the basis of recommendations of the first four members of the selection committee.
The watchdog’s jurisdiction will include all categories of public servants and incorporate provisions for attachment and confiscation of property acquired by corrupt means, even while prosecution is pending.
The Bill also mandates setting up of Lokayuktas through enactment of a law by the State Legislature within 365 days from the date of commencement of the Act.
aditi.n@thehindu.co.in
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