The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the amended Lokpal Bill, which will now be tabled before the Rajya Sabha.
“Out of the 16 amendments, 14 have been agreed on. The amended Bill will go to Rajya Sabha,” the Union Minister V. Narayanasamy told newspersons.
The development comes in the backdrop of a widespread anti-graft agitation led by social activists Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal last year, demanding a Jan Lokpal. Both the activists have now floated separate outfits.
A farce, says Hazare
Hazare, who launched his Jantantra Morcha in Bihar on Wednesday, rejected the new Lokpal Bill draft, terming it a “farce” and said he would carry forward his campaign. Arvind Kejriwal, too, flayed the Government, saying that the proposed law would not check corruption.
Meanwhile, the BJP said the Government had no right to approve or reject the amendments under the rules of Parliament.
“The Government said it has accepted 14 or 16 amendments. It was a Rajya Sabha Committee that made the amendments and the Bill is a property of the Rajya Sabha. The Government cannot make any amendment to it according to the rules of Parliament,” senior party leader Ravishankar Prasad, told reporters.
The amended Bill delinks the Central Government from the creation of State Lokayuktas and incorporates a number of changes recommended by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee, including appointment of the Director of Prosecution by the Central Vigilance Commission.
The Government, however, has not accepted a key recommendation of the panel that an official facing an inquiry by the Lokpal should not be given an opportunity to be heard at the stage of the preliminary inquiry.
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill 2011 was passed by the Lok Sabha on November 23, 2012 and was taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on November 29. The Bill was referred to the Select Committee amidst sharp differences between political parties.