With a debate raging over the inclusion of the Prime Minister and members of Parliament under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill, Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde said that civil society members do not want to compromise on this and said even the judiciary should be brought under its ambit.
“What kind of bill is this if the Prime Minister and MPs are out of jurisdiction? This will not take long if they (political representatives) stick to this. The Lokpal Bill introduced last year had the Prime Minister under its ambit. How come they are objecting to it now? We had talked on this on Monday and I don’t think people will accept institutionalising accountability when it comes to corruption. There have been instances of cash-for-vote, cash-for-question within Parliament. How can they claim immunity when there are instances right in front of us?” Justice Hegde questioned.
Civil society members have, in fact, proposed a clause in the bill so that no presumption of guilt is created on the Prime Minister unless a court frames charges. However, political representatives were not keen to accept this. “They say the PM and MPs inside Parliament will be self-regulatory. When was the last time self-regulation worked? Did it happen when the Bofors scame broke out?” asked Justice Hegde.
He said the higher judiciary will also have to be under the ambit of Lokpal. The Centre’s excuse for exclusion of higher judiciary was the Judges Accountability Bill which is in the works. The Centre also seems to be sticking to Veeraswami judgment in which the top court stated that no FIR can be filed against a judge without the permission from the Chief Justice of India, he felt.