In an attempt to built pressure on the government for conceding the civil society’s demand to bring the office of the Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India and the other judges under the ambit of the Lokpal, the representatives of the civil society have cited previous commitments given by both NDA government and the UPA-I to this effect and
also referred to the recommendations of some noted jurists.
As the civil society members seemed to be joining ranks with Anna Hazare announcing his support to Baba Ramdev’s proposed fast on the issue, advocate Prashant Bhushan, one of the five members of civil society in the committee for drafting the Lokpal Bill, has referred to the Atal Behari Vajpyee government’s decision and former law minister H.R. Bhardwaj’s statement of January 7, 2005 while spelling out the UPA-I’s road map on the issue of Lokpal.
The civil society members have cited the Cabinet decision of June 28, 2003 during the NDA regime to bring the office of the Prime Minister under the ambit of the Lokpal.
They have noted that the decision of the Cabinet then was in fact the follow up of the recommendation of parliamentary standing committee on the Lokpal Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 14, 2001. But it could not make any further progress due to differences between the political parties.
The standing committee had submitted its report to the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha chairperson on December 31, 2001 and the same was laid before Parliament on February 26, 2002.
On the question of bringing the judiciary under Lokpal, they have pointed out that the idea was not new as there was even a thinking on this line within the UPA, which was clearly reflected from the statement of January 7, 2005 by the then law minister H.R. Bhardwaj at a press conference while briefing the media on the proposal to set up a group of ministers on the issue Lokpal.
The civil society members also have referred to the recommendations of two noted jurists — Justice N. Venkatachala and Justice Milap Chand Jain — to the Centre for creating a “strong Lokpal”.