Committing themselves to fighting corruption, industry bodies on Tuesday seemed concerned over the arrest of civil rights activist Anna Hazare and his team members. They hoped that the government would act in a manner to balance and strengthen democratic institutions and conventions.
Reacting to the arrest of Team Anna members, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Harsh Mariwala maintained that while Parliament's right to determine the nature of legislation and change in law was supreme and sovereign, the Constitution did guarantee individual freedom of speech and assembly.
Mr. Mariwala said democratic vibrancy and strong institutional framework were prerequisites for investment. They needed to be preserved and reinforced, he said.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said it would continue to play an active role in ensuring high standards of ethics, probity and transparency in business conduct and would advocate the same for government processes and policies.
Pointing out that it had evolved the code of business ethics, the CII said that the issue of corruption was high on the agenda of the government and was receiving attention at the highest level.
