Govt. reiterates its commitment to introduce strong Lokpal Bill in Monsoon session


Apr 16, 2:41 PM


Government today reiterated its commitment to introduce a strong Lok Pal Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament. Briefing the media after a meeting of the joint committee on drafting the bill, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said that both the sides took a histroic step today in this regard. He said, in today's meeting, both the government and the civil society representatives exchanged views on the salient features of the proposed bill. Mr. Sibal said, the co-Chairman of the Committee, Shanti Bhushan presented a draft of the Jan Lok Pal Bill to the Chairman, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, while the Government also also circulated the draft of the standing committee on Lok Pal bill. Mr. Sibal informed that audio recording of all the meetings will be done and important decisions will be shared with the people from time to time. They also agreed to the procedures to be followed in the meeting as well as the mechanisms to consult the public as widely as possible. The next meeting of the joint committee will be held on the 2nd of next month.

Today's meeting of the 10-member Joint Committee was chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. It was attended by Home Minister P Chidambaram, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid from the government side.Civil Society activists who participated in the meeting are Co-chairman Shanti Bhushan, Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Hegde, and Prashant Bhushan.

Talking to reporters, civil society activist Prashant Bhusan expressed satisfaction over the discussions in the meeting and hoped that this will lead to an independent Lok Pal in the country to fight corruption at higher places. He said, though the demand for videographing of the proceedings was not accepted, the audio recordings about important decisions reached in the meetings will be shared with the public for wider consultations. He said, the next meeting will take up issues related to the bill after studying the drafts exchanged today.