Centre issues notification for Drafting Panel of Lok Pal Bill

The Union government on Saturday issued a notification constituting a Joint Drafting Committee to prepare a draft of the Lok Pal Bill.

The Joint Drafting Committee will consist of five nominee Union Ministers and five nominees named by Anna Hazare (including himself).

According to an official statement, the five nominee Ministers of the Government of India are Union Minister of Finance Pranab Mukherjee, Union Minister of Home Affairs P Chidambaram, Union Minister of Law and Justice Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Human Resource and Development, Communication and Information Technology Kapil Sibal and Union Minister of Water Resources and Minister of Minority Affairs Salman Khursheed.

The five members from the civil society include Anna Hazare, Justice N Santosh Hedge, senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, Advocate Prashan Bhushan and Advocate Arvind Kejriwal.

 The Chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee would be Mr Pranab Mukherjee while Mr Shanti Bhushan will be the Co-Chairperson.

The Convenor of the Join Drafting Committee will be M Veerappa Moily.

The Joint Drafting Committee shall commence its work forthwith and evolve its own procedure to prepare the proposed Legislation. The Joint Drafting Committee shall complete its work latest by June 30, 2011.

 Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated that the agreement to combat corruption augurs well for democracy.

In a statement, the Prime Minister said that “I am happy that the Government and representatives of civil society have reached an agreement in our mutual resolve to combat corruption. This is a scourge that confronts all of us. The Government intends to introduce the Lok Pal Bill in Parliament during the Monsoon Session.”

Dr Manmohan Singh added, “The fact that civil society and Government have joined hands to evolve a consensus to move this historic legislation augurs well for our democracy. I am pleased that Anna Hazareji has agreed to give up his fast.”

He further said that, “The interaction between the Government and representatives of Anna Hazareji was productive. I hope that the process of preparing this legislation will move forward in a constructive mode so that after consultation with a wide spectrum of stake holders the legislation is placed before the Cabinet for introduction during the Monsoon Session.”