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Fix Lokpal law else professionals may quit govt bodies: CII chief
NEW DELHI: A controversial provision in the Lokpal law could undermine a decade-long effort to bring top management of the private sector on to the board of government-run
NEW DELHI: A controversial provision in the Lokpal law could undermine a decade-long effort to bring top management of the private sector on to the board of government-run institutes, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president warned.
The CII has asked the government to revisit the Lokpal law that puts functionaries of NGOs, societies and trusts on par with government officials. The law treats industrialists and senior professionals on the boards of government-run institutes as public servants. They can be booked for bribery and must make their assets and liabilities public.
“If this provision stays,” CII president Naushad Forbes told HT on Friday, “I would think that everyone (from the industry) is going to reconsider their involvement as chairmen or members of institute boards — I certainly would”.
Forbes – co-chairman of the Pune-based group Forbes Marshall – is also the chairman, governing council of the government’s National Institute for Design at Ahmedabad. “This action would also reverse the efforts of the government made over the last 15 years to bring senior professionals on the board of its own institutions,” he said.
The provision was part of the Lokpal law passed by Parliament in 2013 to set up a national ombudsman to probe corruption charges against central ministers, MPs and government officials.
Last month, the government extended the law to cover officer-bearers of a trust, charity or society if it either received foreign funds in excess of Rs 10 lakh or had an annual income of Rs 1 crore-plus. The government gave office-bearers a month — till 31 July — to declare their assets. For its employees, however, the government had extended the deadline for over two years.
‘CHANGE MADE TO GET BACK AT KEJRIWAL’
The Lokpal law was originally not meant to cover the voluntary sector. Rajesh Tandon, founder president of the NGO, Participatory Research in Asia, said the change was made to get back at Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia who led protests to press for setting up the Lokpal. Both ran NGOs that received foreign funds before they formed the AAP, which came to power in 2015.
