A committee which the BJP had set up to examine the Lok Pal bill has recommended changes in a wide range of its provisions, particularly over the secrecy in which the government has proposed to shroud its proceedings.
It also recommends that public servants be permitted to complain to the Lok Pal, that the body be empowered to inquire into allegations into senior civil servants and that the scope of offences into which the Lok Pal inquire be expanded.The committee consisted of Ghuman Man Lodha, former Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, Sushil Chandra Varma and Satyapal Jain. They have recommended to the partys leaders that the BJP should not accept the bill unless all their major suggestions are incorporated in it. Their report points out that the bill only requires that, after finding charges of corruption to be proven, the Lok Pal can do no more than report these findings to the competent authority, which must inform the Lok Pal of action taken or proposed to be taken within three months. This means that the action to be taken is not specified in the Act and a competent authority can even inform the Lok Pal that it has considered the report and warn the minister to be more careful in future, the report says.
Neither the report is published nor the action taken is made known to the people. The absence of immediate publication of the decision is serious lapse and by amendment the Lok Pal decision should be made public and announcement publicly rather than sending a report and keeping it confidential for a long time, the report further recommends.
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The report recommends that Clause 23 be deleted entirely. It makes punishable the disclosure of information and makes even the publication of particulars in the complaint punishable. Similarly, it points out, the report cannot be published. The very object of Lok Pal institution is defeated by this secrecy, the report notes.
It points out that Clause 26 makes the bill a protective umbrella against criminal prosecutions. The bill provides that criminal investigations by the CBI or other police outfits should cease once a complaint is registered with the Lok Pal on the same matter.
The BJP report recommends that grievances regarding nepotism, favouritism or other misconduct should also be brought under the purview of the Lok Pal instead of only matters covered by the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The report also recommends that the committee to appoint the Lok Pal should be chaired by the Chief Justice of India or by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice and the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The bill currently provides for a selection committee comprising the prime minister, the Speaker, the home minister, the minister of state for public grievances, the leaders of the opposition in each house of Parliament and the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The BJP report points out that, at most times, all these, other than the two leaders of the opposition, would be from the ruling party.