Grievance bill to fight graft
Facing the heat of the anti-graft agitation led by Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare, the government appears to have gone on an overdrive to put in place a multi-layered laws to deal with corruption at various levels of administration.
After day-long hectic parleys among a number of Union ministers on Monday, the government has set in motion the process to bring in Grievance Redressal Bill to tackle corruption at the local level along with an amendment to the CVC Act.
Along with Lokpal Bill, Whistle Blowers’ Bill and Judicial Accountability Bill, there would be five legislative proposals on which the government would be working in a proactive manner to put in place a multi-layered structure to deal with corruption at various levels of governance.
In an apparent bid to blunt the criticism of the civil society that the government version of the Lokpal Bill has left out the lower judiciary, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said that the Grievance Redressal Bill, which will be put in the public domain by the end of this week, would bring in its ambit administration at the local level from the rank of a district magistrate to patwari at the village level.
The government appears to have firmed up its stand, that the Lokpal Bill would not just be a standalone legislative proposal to deal with corruption and four other bills would complete the wholesome approach to curb the menace of corruption. Mr Ramesh said that the Grievance Redressal Bill would deal with all the issues concerning entitlement of the citizens, which will include all aspects of services that the people approach the government agencies for at the local level. He said that the bill would be drafted by incorporating similar apparatus in place for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
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