Truce over, Anna wants judiciary under Lokpal

The fragile truce between the government and Anna Hazare was shattered on Monday with the social activist’s team reverting back to its old demand of bringing the judiciary under the proposed anti-graft watchdog, Lokpal. HT reports.

The fragile truce between the government and Anna Hazare was shattered on Monday with the social activist’s team reverting back to its old demand of bringing the judiciary under the proposed anti-graft watchdog, Lokpal.

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Team Anna, which had agreed for a separate bill to check corruption in judiciary, changed its stand after analysing the report of the parliamentary standing committee on land and justice, which examined the Judicial Standards and Accountability bill.

"We had expected the standing committee to address the issue of criminal investigation into allegations of corruption against the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, and prosecution, if required, but nothing has been done," said lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

Team Anna said it had withdrawn its demand for bringing the higher judiciary under lokpal after it had been assured that investigations into corruption and prosecution of judges will be dealt with separately in the judicial accountability bill.

"The judges bill only mentions about committees to deal with complaints of misconduct against judges and we feel the entire country has been misled. The government, the civil society groups and retired judges who argued for keeping the judiciary out of lokpal should now answer," he said.

Team Anna questioned the standing committee report saying some of its recommendations have compromised the independence of the judiciary.