Oppositions right

The Centres firm indication to the civil society members on the joint drafting committee for the Lokpal bill that work would go on with or without them instantly yielded clarifications. A day after their Monday boycott,Arvind Kejriwal,one of the five non-government members on the committee,said they would not withdraw from further meetings. But the manner in which they have sought to reschedule meetings and pre-assign the agenda has already revealed their casual approach to the deeply consultative spirit that must and does inform law-making in a democracy. That impression is reinforced,significantly,by opposition parties. In responses almost identical in tenor,they rebuffed the drafting committees questionnaire on issues related to the Lokpal bill. They reminded the committee about Parliaments central role in law-making and advised the government to table the draft bill in its monsoon session,and thereon leave it to established parliamentary procedures.

This stern,and near unanimous,response from non-UPA political parties is a timely check on the prescriptive even gotcha approach of the civil society half of the committee. On behalf of the BSP,Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati told the finance minister,and chairman of the drafting panel,Pranab Mukherjee: Seeking an opinion of the party before tabling the bill on the floor of the House is contradictory to parliamentary traditions. CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat wrote: We suggest that the government prepare a draft of the Lokpal legislation on which we will be able to give our views. BJP President Nitin Gadkari argued: Expecting political parties to give their views to a drafting committee comprising of civil society representatives for acceptance or otherwise would be upsetting the constitutional propriety where parties,parliamentarians and Parliament have the last word.

These missives come at a time when politics has been polarised further after the Ramdev theatrical. Yet,the oppositions responses present the government an opportunity to reconfigure the process for drafting the Lokpal bill,which it has promised to table in the forthcoming session of Parliament. They constitute a reality check for the government and Anna Hazares civil society nominees that it is the government that tables a bill in Parliament,and thereafter submits it to the procedures and the will of the House. And though,in this newspapers estimation,it was an error to bring self-appointed representatives of civil society to make up half of the drafting committee,that error is the governments burden alone. Once a bill is tabled,Parliament,and Parliament alone,takes possession. Therefore,the government should get on with the draft and hereon ignore the antics of the co-drafters.