Panel agrees on constitutional status

“The committee completed its discussions on all issues before time today,so that our meeting,called for tomorrow,was not needed,” he said.

Sources said there was no consensus on bringing Prime Minister within the domain of the proposed ombudsman. Congress members opposed the suggestion,while those belonging to the BJP,BJD,and SP backed the idea. The Congress members were supported by RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav,LJP’s Ram Vilas Pawan and BSP’s Vijay Bahadur Singh. The BJD was of the view that a full bench of Lokpal could propose investigating the Prime Minister and making a recommendation to the Supreme Court,where a full-bench could take a final view.

By seeking to recommend constitutional status for Lokpal in the draft report,Singhvi has tried to implement the suggestion made by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in a zero hour mention in the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session.

The UPA would need the support of the Opposition for a constitutional amendment.

The sources said the report is likely to recommend a single Bill to provide for the appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in the states.

The members unanimously felt that higher judiciary,media and corporate houses should be kept out of the Lokpal ambit.

However,they all endorsed the suggestion for getting NGOs in the ambit of Lokpal.

There was consensus over getting Group B officers along with Group A officers under the watchdog. The BJP members,the sources said,called for bringing Group C and D officials also under Lokpal.

Panel members favoured administrative control of the Ministry of Personnel over the CBI,but they felt that the Directorate of Prosecution of the investigative body could be made accountable to Lokpal,which could monitor probe into cases of corruption as well as prosecution of people.

The report could suggest a dilution of the punishment provided for filing frivolous complaints in the existing Lokpal Bill. The suggestion was to lower the imprisonment from two years to six months.

Crores being spent to malign my team: Anna

Alleging that crores of rupees are being spent to jeopardise the Jan Lokpal Bill,Anna Hazare said the activists would not lose sight of their goal and would not reply to continuous innuendos made by those seeking “cheap publicity”. In his latest blogpost,Hazare said he has heard that “crores of rupees have been spent” for launching a malicious campaign against his team by those who are against the movement.