Lokpal panel fails to convince Oppn

Even as the House panel on the lokpal made recommendation for a balance in the powers of the CBI, CVC and the proposed anti-corruption watchdog, however, it failed to convince the opposition BJP with its 286-page report.

Even as the House panel on the lokpal made recommendation for a balance in the powers of the CBI, CVC and the proposed anti-corruption watchdog, however, it failed to convince the opposition BJP with its 286-page report.

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The report saw dissent notes from 17 members on various issues, including three Congress MPs.

Abhishek Singhvi, chairperson of the panel, said the committee unanimously agreed on 13 of the 24 issues examined by it.

“There are many creative initiatives and firsts in the report…There is no magic wand or special button to eliminate the scourge of corruption within a short time,” he said.

The panel has rejected the demand for giving independent phone tapping powers to the lokpal. The report includes the dissent notes from 17 members. Six BJP MPs gave a common dissent note demanding inclusion of the PM, citizens and public grievances and lower bureaucracy. On some of these points, members of the BJD, SP and Left parties agreed with them.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said: “There seems to be an attempt to make the report so complicated that passage of the lokpal bill becomes difficult. I feel this is the intention behind some of the proposals in the report. It has ignored the political and social wisdoms and got involved in legalisms.”