Lok Pal Bill before Cabinet

Four decades on, the opinion is still divided on whether the Prime Minister should be brought under the purview of the proposed Lok Pal, the ombudsman on corruption. The Cabinet will meet on Thursday to take a call as the Group of Ministers, constituted to recommend a way out, has left the issue open.

According to sources, the GoM has sided with the Law Ministry’s proposal that the Cabinet be the referee on PM’s inclusion. It also agrees with the ministry that if the PM was to be included, his decision on national security, defense matters and international relations should be kept out of the Lok Pal’s scrutiny. In doing so, the GoM turned down the advice of the Administrative Reforms Commission which sought PM’s exclusion on grounds that his decisions and integrity could always be checked through a no-confidence vote.

In the proposed Bill, the GoM has recommended that the Lok Pal would cover all MLAs and MPs with the power of referring the cases vested in the speakers and chairmen of the houses. It leaves out the constitutional authorities as there is already a laid-down process to impeach them. An earlier draft of the Bill introduced in the lower house of Parliament in 1998 specifically brought the PM within its ambit, but later there was opposition arguing that the PM’s office must be insured from the risk of too much litigation.

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