Union Finance Minister and chairman of the Lokpal Bill Joint Draft Committee (JDC) Pranab Mukherjee has invited the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) to forward to him “directly” any suggestions/feedback on the Bill. He was responding to a letter written by Nikhil de of the NCPRI to him, seeking information on the procedures being followed by the panel and on public consultations.
It is understood that in the May 23 meeting of the draft committee, Mr. Mukherjee himself brought up the issue and circulated his draft reply right at the beginning.
Reservations
The NCPRI has made public its reservations on various provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill (drafted by the civil society members) including the proposal to bring the higher judiciary, public grievances (on corruption), the Central Vigilance Commission and that part of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that deals with corruption under its ambit, saying it will make the legislation unwieldy and collapse under its own weight. It has sought clarity on measures such as accountability and efficiency of the Lokpal.
Assuring the NCPRI that “effective” public consultations would be held on the Bill before finalising it in the 10-member draft committee, of which he is the chairman and Shanti Bhushan is the co-chairman with Anna Hazare a member, Mr. Mukherjee said, “I assure you that the JDC is committed to having effective public consultations before finalising the draft Lokpal Bill.”
While informing that the day-to-day deliberations of the meeting were not being made public, he clarified that “once the basic principles and the draft Lokpal legislation” were ready, they would be placed in the public domain inviting views/opinions of the stakeholders. “Should any one wish to present views in person before the JDC, the committee will consider it,” he said.
Webpage
The Minister informed the NGO that a webpage on Lokpal had been set up and hosted at www.persmin.nic.in. All background materials prepared and suggestions received from various stakeholders were being placed on the site.
