Logjam grows, states against overarching lokpal ambit

Not just central ministers, even some state chief ministers are averse to having a Lokpal to investigate all cases of corruption, as being demanded by civil society. Chetan Chauhan reports. Quote unquote

Updated on: Jun 10, 2011, 01:39:03 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Not just Central ministers, even some state chief ministers are averse to having a lokpal to investigate all cases of corruption as being demanded by civil society.

Two chief ministers - Sheila Dikshit of Delhi and Ibobi Singh of Manipur - have out-rightly rejected the idea of an overarching lokpal.

Others such as Narendra Modi of Gujarat and Nitish Kumar of Bihar expressed anguish at the haste in which their opinions have been sought.

Finance minister Pranab Mukerjee, who is also the chairperson of lokpal's joint drafting panel, had sought comments of all political parties and chief ministers on six issues of difference with the civil society members of the committee on May 31.

These included inclusion of PM, higher judiciary, senior government officials and MPs in the ambit of lokpal.

Dikshit was most categorical among all the chief ministers in rejecting the lokpal and termed many proposals of the civil society led by Gandhian Anna Hazare as "unconstitutional".

"My government strongly believed that rather than creating institutions which are unaccountable and adversely affecting the checks and balances already visualised in the Constitution, it is advisable that the existing institutions are further strengthened," Dikshit, said in a letter to Mukerjee.

Manipur CM Singh, who discussed the possible framework of lokpal bill with his cabinet colleagues, agreed that PM and higher judiciary should not be investigated by higher authority like the lokpal. He even said the conduct of MPs should remain outside its ambit.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said the lokpal will disturb the anatomy of Indian polity. Other Congress CMs said they will toe the party line.

Nitish Kumar and Narender Modi were on same page while questioning the Centre on seeking their comments in a hurried manner.

"In a federal structure, consultation between Centre and states should be a serious affair and not a mere consultation on limited issues which is a matter of compulsion for the Centre," Modi said.

Kumar expressed surprise that the response of the chief ministers was being sought in such a "casual" and "hurried" manner.

CPI's AB Bardhan went to the extent of saying that none of the political parties were consulted before constituting the joint drafting committee, a view also expressed by BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

Both said they will place their views once the bill is introduced in Parliament.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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