Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily on Friday denied there was any confusion in the government over the Lokpal Bill expected to cover even the office of Prime Minister.
“There is absolute clarity. [There is] no confusion,” he said, when journalists asked about the Bill, in the making for some time now, and sought to know whether there were differences over bringing the Prime Minister's Office within its ambit.
He declined to comment further on the ground that the matter was under the consideration of a Group of Ministers. The GoM was set up recently to consider legislative and administrative measures to tackle corruption in high places.
The GoM's terms of reference include state funding of elections, ensuring full transparency in public procurement and contribution, enunciation of a new public procurement policy and introduction of an open and competitive system for exploiting natural resources, apart from Union Ministers relinquishing discretionary powers.
Mr. Moily said the government was very keen on fast-tracking corruption cases and noted that Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia had also recently written to the Chief Justices of various High Courts to speed up such cases.
The government was working to make justice a fundamental right. A Bill would seek to ensure that quality legal assistance was available to all, besides reducing the cost of litigation and cutting down the time for disposal of cases.
Referring to the National Litigation Policy, Mr. Moily said the States had been asked to frame their own litigation measures on the lines of the policy. Among other things, the policy aims to ensure that cases pursued by the Central Ministries, departments and other agencies do not drag on needlessly.
