The Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, which has been examining the Lokpal Bill draft, Mr. Abhishek Singhvi has said that there would be no delay except of a “couple of days” for the Committee to submit the report on the anti-graft Lokpal bill before the Union Parliament. Singhvi who met with the media after his meeting with the Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari told the media said that is the report is adopted the following day, the bill is likely to be tabled in the Parliament within the next two or three days. Singhvi further added that the time extension is technical as it is rudimentarily for translation and printing of the bill and this cannot be expressed as a delay in the real sense.

The Standing panel will meet today to adopt the bill but the business is unlikely to be an affable one as dissent notes has been received on as many as 18 matters which include the inclusion of the Prime Minister under the ambit of the bill, the appointment of the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the inclusion or exclusion of the lower bureaucracy, the mechanism that is to be adopted for the removal of the Lokpal and whether the grievances of the people should be included in the Bill.

The effort of the Standing Committee is applauded for coming up with the report on the draft of the bill within such a short period of around three months. If everything goes as planned the bill is likely to be tabled on the 9^th of December.

Lokpal Bill likely to be tabled on the 9th December 2011

Report by Radhalakshmi