Team Anna Flays Exclusion of Judiciary from Lokpal

Tuesday, 29 November 2011, 22:57 IST
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New Delhi:  Disappointed over the Parliamentary Standing Committee's draft report on Lokpal Bill, Team Anna criticised the exclusion of the judiciary from the ambit of the ombudsman while opposing the inclusion of NGOs and media in it.

Reacting to the panel's draft report, Arvind Kejriwal sought to remind the government of the Parliamentary resolution that led to Anna Hazare ending his fast on August 28, saying he hoped it would be respected. "When Anna ended his fast, the Parliament agreed to a resolution. We just hope that the resolution is respected," Kejriwal said.

Opposing the decision to exclude judiciary from the ambit of Lokpal, he said, "We were told that the corruption by judges will be handled in the Judicial Accountability Bill (JAB). It is not in the JAB. It is not in the Lokpal bill."

Another activist Kiran Bedi called the exclusion of judiciary a setback as people "overwhelmingly" wanted the judiciary in. "By this, corruption in judiciary is covered nowhere, neither in JAB nor in Lokpal," she told . Expressing apprehension over the inclusion of NGOs and media under the Lokpal's purview, Kejriwal said this would make matters "more confusing".

"We fully agree that there is a lot of corruption in NGOs as well as in the media, but the Lokpal is meant to be an agency that will cover corruption as defined by the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

"To deal with NGOs there is a Registrar of Society and Trust Act. We need to strengthen it but we demand the inclusion of government-funded NGOs as they come under the purview of the PCA. For the media, the Press Council should be strengthened," he said. However, Bedi welcomed the proposal to bring corporates, media and NGOs under the ambit of Lokpal.


Source: PTI