Former Law Minister and co-chairman of the committee to draft the Lokpal Bill Shanti Bhushan on Saturday voiced hope that the proposed legislation would be passed “unanimously” by Parliament, insisting that any party opposing it would be seen as “not interested in removing corruption.”
“I expect the Bill to be passed unanimously.... If it is a good bill and people can see it as an independent organisation against corruption, then it will get endorsement. Anybody who opposes such a fine bill would be seen as a person not interested in removing corruption,” he told reporters here.
Appreciating the government for responding to the call of the people to bring a law against corruption, Mr. Bhushan said the proposed body should be “totally independent, which can’t be pressurised by any political or judiciary people. It should be strong and should have teeth to cut corruption at all levels.”
Mr. Bhushan’s son and eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan expressed the hope that the Ministers in the Joint Drafting Committee of the Bill would be able to devote time to finalise the draft by June 30.
“As the notification states, we have to complete our task by June 30 and we hope to do that by June 30. We hope that provided the Ministers in the committee devote adequate time to it and I expect they would after this commitment,” he said.
Mr. Prashant Bhushan said the members of the movement including Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejariwal did not expect such an “overwhelming” response from the common people but the mass participation shows that “the public is fedup of corruption in the country”.
