The parliamentary standing committee attached to the home ministry is unlikely to submit its report on the pending Lokpal Bill before May as the Left parties want many of its provisions altered.
Though Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has promised that the bill will be passed during the current session, but that seems unlikely in view of the delay.
Leaders of the Left parties are upset with the bills present form. According to Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai, who is also on the House committee, The bill in its present form is intended to protect the corrupt and no other purpose will be served.
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Left leaders are upset with provisions on the composition of the selection committee to appoint the three-member Lokpal, on the proceedings being in-camera, on the need for the government to concur before the body can take the help of an investigative agency, and on the general lack of autonomy.
As per the present provisions, the Lokpal will have to get government permission for taking help from the police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and it has no recourse if the government refuses. In addition, even if the Lokpal finds someone guilty, it will have to seek permission from the competent authority, the Prime Minister, to prosecute the guilty.
Pillai and Communist Party of India (CPI) secretary D Raja say that such provisions will impair the functioning of the Lokpal. The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) will not be above the purview of the Lokpal. Why should it seek its permission to prosecute anyone, Raja says. Pillai favours that the Lokpal should have powers to prosecute someone it finds guilty.
Left leaders want a balanced composition of the seven-member selection committee to appoint the Lokpal and it should have representatives from the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. Pillai has taken strong objection to the provision that the proceedings of the Lokpal will be held in-camera. Complete transparency should be maintained with regard to the Lokpals functioning and the clause that even the complainant would be punished seems objectionable, he says.
The draft bill seeks to bring the Prime Minister under its purview. The three-member Lokpal will have a chairman, who is to be equivalent in rank to the Chief Justice of India, and members, who are to be on a par with the Supreme Court judges.
The proposed bill specifies that the proceedings of the Lokpal will be kept away from the press for three months.