Senior Congress member and Chairman of the Select Committee on the Lokpal Bill, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, came in for praise in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday when the Bill was taken up for discussion after almost two years of dilly dallying.
The government accepted almost all the recommendations of the select committee, even revising the list of amendments that it had intended to move.
Law Minister Kapil Sibal said the government now intended to move just three amendments, dropping most others.
Mr. Sibal underlined the need for greater independence and transparency in the functioning of the institution of the Lokpal, given the political climate blowing across the country.
The first shower of encomiums for Mr. Chaturvedi mostly came from the Opposition benches. Bahujan Samaj Party leader Satish Chandra Mishra led the way, praising him for the manner in which he conducted the proceedings and elicited opinion from across a wide spectrum.
The earlier draft was toothless and nothing but garbage, he maintained. Despite belonging to the Congress, he pointed out, he had disregarded the pressure from his party and the government.
“It was a job well done. The nation appreciates good work,” Bharatiya Janata Party deputy leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said. He underscored how the Joint Parliamentary Committee report on the 2G scam was attacked for its alleged bias and lack of leadership.
Janata Dal (United) leader Shivanand Tiwari too complimented him for showing statesmanship in preparing the report.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury wondered if Mr. Chaturvedi should have had been made the chairman of the JPC on 2G scam.
