You all must be aware of the current fight going against corruption in the country. After a fast by veteran social activist Anna Hazare and widespread protests by citizens across India, Govt. made a draft of Lokpal Bill to be introduced in the Parliament to convert into a “law”. But the Govt's Lokpal Bill disappointed a lot. Government has completely ignored the wishes of the common man and made a mockery of our hard fought struggle for strong anti-corruption laws. Here, we are briefing some really important points mentioned in the Govt’s Lokpal Bill:
1. Lokpal will not have any power to either initiate action suo motu in any case or even receive complaints of corruption from general public. The general public will make complaints to the speaker of Lok Sabha or chairperson of Rajya Sabha. Only those complaints forwarded by Speaker of Lok Sabha/ Chairperson of Rajya Sabha to Lokpal would be investigated by Lokpal.
2 It is purely an advisory body and can only, after enquiry in any case, forward its report to the competent authority. The competent authority will have final powers to decide whether to take action on Lokpal’s report or not. Say, in the case of cabinet ministers, the competent authority is Prime Minister.
3. Since it has no police powers, the Lokpal cannot register an FIR on any complaint. It can only conduct a preliminary enquiry.
4. Anybody found to have lodged a false complaint will be punished summarily by the Lokpal with imprisonment ranging from 1 year to 3 years.
5. The committee to select Lokpal members will consist entirely of political dignitaries and its composition is loaded in favour of the ruling party.
6. Though a time limit of six months to one year has been prescribed for the Lokpal to conduct its probe, there is no limit for completion of trial, if any.
7. Nothing has been provided in law to recover ill-gotten wealth. After serving his sentence, a corrupt person can come out of jail and use that money.
The Govt’s bill has no teeth. It is nowhere near the Jan Lokpal bill presented for consideration by civil society. If the Government’s bill becomes law we are literally gifting our country to the corrupt people to further plunder our resources.
Now, it’s the need of the time to make a strong Lokpal Bill which can be strong & effective in curbing the menace of Corruption. For this, an Online Refrendum has been organized by civil society to take the opinion of the public. Check this:
