Lokpal – A political DRAMA
Lokpal means an ‘ombudsman’ in India. The concept of Lokpal has been drawn up to root out the corruption at all levels in the prevailing Indian polity. The basic idea of the Lokpal is borrowed from the Scandinavian and other nations where it has played an effective role in checking corruption.
In early 1960s, mounting corruption in public administration set the winds blowing in favour of an Ombudsman in India too.
The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) set up in 1966 recommended the constitution of two-tier machinery - of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta in the states.
The Lokpal Bill is a proposed anticorruption law designed to effectively stop corruption, redress grievances and protect whistleblowers. The law would create an ombudsman called the Lokpal. This would be an independent body with the power to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without prior government permission.
For 42 years, the government-drafted bill has failed to pass the Rajya Sabha.The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha, in 1969 but stalled in the Rajya Sabha. Subsequent Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008 but all failed to pass.
The present scenario of this much awaited Lokpal Bill is - The Lokpal Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha but again it is lying on the tables of the Rajya Sabha.
Observing the developments that took place for the last few days, it can be assured that no politician or political party wants Lokpal. The politicians are just acting to please the electorates (people) of India. After seeing the success of anti-corruption movement leaded by Anna Hazare and his team, the politicians came to know that large population of India is against the growing corruption in the country. And the politicians wanted to show that they are working for the welfare of the people, so they decided to utilize the present moment as their political strategy. The ruling UPA govt decided to draft the Lokpal Bill with the civil society members to please the people and on the other hand the opposition parties started blaming the UPA govt for drafting a weak Lokpal Bill. All the actions of the parties were done with an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections in the 5 states, mainly Uttar Pradesh.
So it is no longer about the Lokpal or fighting corruption. It is all about POLITICS.
The Congress wants to get the credit for passing the Bill in Lok Sabha and blame the opposition, especially BJP, for not voting in favour of the Bill. The BJP does not want the Congress to take the credit of passing the Lokpal Bill.
So, one thing is sure, that no party wants the Lokpal. It is for the simple reason that the prevailing corruption today is at large scale in politicians. So they don’t want to get them jailed by themselves. Even if setting of Lokpal becomes true, it will NOT be a Strong one to punish the politicians.
According to me, the 2 main drawbacks of the present Lokpal Bill which is passed by Lok Sabha are:
(1) The Selection Committee Composition
The Selection Committee of the Lokpal consists of 5 members – the PM, the Speaker of Lok Sabha, an eminent jurist appointed by the President, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and CJI or a Supreme Court judge nominated by CJI.
From the 5 members of the above, the majority is with the ruling govt i.e, first 3 out of 5 will be of ruling party and thus it is not suitable to select a Lokpal who is unbiased. The ruling govt may select the Lokpal of its choice.
(2) Investigation of cases
The present Bill denies the investigative role of the Lokpal. The Lokpal has to refer its cases to CBI for investigation and we know there exists the political control of the govt over CBI. Thus the investigation of the cases may be controlled by the govt.
Keeping aside all these, let us HOPE for a STRONG and INDEPENDENT LOKPAL.
