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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 16: The Government has constituted a group of ministers (GOM) headed by Home Minister L K Advani to fine tune certain provisions of the proposed Lok Pal Bill, dealing with allegations of corruption against those in high offices including the prime minister.
The decision to constitute a GOM was taken at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Sources on Thursday said it was felt in the Cabinet that the Bill in its present form was not in tune with recommendations of the Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha which has expressed itself against punishment of MPs by an "outside" agency.
The group comprising Mahajan, Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar, will look into various modalities of inclusion of MPs.
The committee is likely to submit its report in two to three months.
Meanwhile, Mahajan told reporters that government was considering repealing the MPs’ Salaries Act to find a permanent mechanism for fixing salaries and allowances of MPs.
He said after obtaining political consensus the government would repeal MPs salaries and allowances act to avoid the embarrassment of debating on one’s own salaries and allowances.
