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Journalism of Courage
On the day the Lokpal Selection Committee was due to meet, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said he will boycott the meetings until he is conferred the status of a full-fledged member as per the Lokpal Act.
In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kharge expressed his displeasure at being invited to the panel meetings as a “special invitee”. It is disappointing that previous letters raising the issue had gone unnoticed, he said.
“The government insists on continuing to invite me as a special invitee to the selection committee meeting despite being aware of the fact that there is no such provision under section 4 of the Lokpal Act,” he said.
“It has been four years since your government came to power and if the government was indeed sincere about including the voice of the opposition in this process, it could have brought in the necessary amendments to ensure the same,” he added.
The selection committee comprises of the prime minister, the chief justice of India, Lok Sabha Speaker, the leader of the largest opposition party and an eminent jurist. It was scheduled to meet Wednesday for the purpose of constituting a search panel that would recommend names for appointing a Lokpal.
On July 2, the apex Court had sought a report from the central government on the appointment of anti-graft ombudsman Lokpal. It asked the government to file an affidavit within 10 days, mentioning details as to how long the process would take and by when a Lokpal can be appointed.
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