Lawyers body for Lokpal, Lokayuktas through single bill

The Constitution does not prohibit creation of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states through a single bill, to be passed by both houses of Parliament, the Bar Council of India (BCI) told the parliamentary panel examining the Lokpal Bill on Saturday. Nagendar Sharma reports.

The Constitution does not prohibit creation of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states through a single bill, to be passed by both houses of Parliament, the Bar Council of India (BCI) told the parliamentary panel examining the Lokpal Bill on Saturday.

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In its presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on law and justice, the BCI — the apex regulator for the legal profession in the country — also argued for adopting the Turkish model, in case the panel wanted to bring the Prime Minister under the Lokpal’s ambit.

The seven-member BCI delegation, led by its chairman Ashok Kumar Parija, told the 31-member parliamentary panel headed by Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi, that there is an urgent need to get rid of the perception regarding the CBI being vulnerable to political pressure.

On whether Parliament could make a law for having Lokaytuktas in states, the BCI stated: “Since the investigation of bribery and corruption was included in the IPC and the Code of Criminal Procedure, Parliament is fully competent to enact a law to provide for alternative methods of investigation of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.”

The BCI referred to the Concurrent List of the Constitution – which defines the issues over which both the Centre and states have powers to intervene – and pointed out that all criminal laws applied uniformly across the country.

“There are many provisions in the Concurrent List that allow the Centre to make a law applicable to states.”

But this is the only main point on which the BCI seemed to have agreed with Team Anna. On all other sticking issues, it seemed to be tilting towards the government’s Lokpal Bill.