As per reports, noted social activist Anna Hazare will not attend today’s meeting on the Lokpal issue as he is yet to end his vow of silence (maun vrat) taken a few days back. Besides Anna Hazare, former Karnataka Lokayukta and key Team Anna member Justice Santosh Hegde is also likely to miss the meeting.
The Standing Committee meeting will be attended by other Team Anna members including Arvind Kejriwal, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia and Kiran Bedi.
In today’s discussion, the Team Anna is likely to press for Constitutional amendments to widen Lokpal's powers to include conduct of MPs in Parliament and do away with sanction for prosecution required for bureaucrats.
The demand from Team Anna comes at a time when the government has reiterated its commitment to bring a stringent Lokpal mechanism, which will be a constitutional authority.
The government had earlier rejected suggestions for changes from Team Anna on the ground that the Constitution could not be drastically altered.
However, the Team Anna now claims since major amendments will be required to make Lokpal a constitutional authority, its demands can be met as well. The issue of guaranteeing constitutional sanctity was earlier raised by government representatives on the joint drafting committee that had included Team Anna. However, the committee ended in a stalemate.
Whatever may be the outcome of the meeting, Team Anna is likely to pitch for the changes in their presentation to the parliamentary standing committee on law and justice.
Today’s meeting also holds significance as Anna had recently threatened to launch another hunger strike if a strong Lokpal Bill is not passed in the Winter Session of Parliament. However, the government hit back saying it saw no reason for such threats and reiterated its commitment for a strong ombudsman.
on Lokpal
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