Lokpal bill has struck a fine balance, says Singhvi

With the BJP and the Left set to move amendments seeking administrative control of the lokpal on the CBI, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi on Monday reiterated that the parliamentary standing committee on the lokpal bill had struck a “fine balance and equilibrium” between the holy trinity of lokpal, CBI and CVC to check corruption.

With the BJP and the Left set to move amendments seeking administrative control of the lokpal on the CBI, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi on Monday reiterated that the parliamentary standing committee on the lokpal bill had struck a “fine balance and equilibrium” between the holy trinity of lokpal, CBI and CVC to check corruption.

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“The equilibrium sought to be created between the holy trinity of lokpal, CBI and CVC, in the standing committee report, largely accepted by the government in the new bill introduced, is sophisticated mechanism of mutual checks and balances, which prevent any of the three elements of the trinity from becoming autocratic or arbitrary,” he said.

“None has absolute power or discretion and each is somewhat dependant on the other thus creating a desirable interlocking balance, which operates as a salutary safeguard on all three.”

Highly-placed sources said the Congress brass wanted Singhvi, who is also the party spokesperson, to open the debate in the Rajya Sabha.

Party leaders maintained that Singhvi’s position as head of parliamentary panel on the lokpal bill cannot come in the way of his speaking for the party since the report has already been tabled in Parliament.

But the standing committee had recommended supervisory role for the lokpal in cases to be referred by it to the agency for probe.

It had also recommended doing away with the widely-criticised procedure of seeking sanction to prosecute public servants against whom the investigating agency found sufficient evidence to proceed against in a court of law.