Round Table on the Lokpal Bill
Corruption is a burning issue in India -- the recent anti-corruption crusade brought civil society activists and ordinary citizens together in their fight for a robust and effective anti-corruption mechanism. In the process, a lot of debate has been generated around the provisions of the Lokpal Bill. In retrospect, the campaign comes across as one of the most progressive movements of our times as it involved a large consultative process with huge citizen engagement and participation.
The efficacy of the draft proposed by the government was questioned and challenged, and one saw no consensus on the provisions. As various civil society organizations, political parties, the judiciary, the academic community and other sections of our intelligentsia came out with their versions of the draft, various perspectives and opinions surfaced. To further deliberate and discuss the implications of the Lokpal Bill, four civil society organizations – Foundation for Democratic Reforms, Lok Satta, Transparency International (India) and Center for Media Studies – organized a National Round Table on Lokpal on April 24 2011, in New Delhi. Guests at the discussion included highly prominent and distinguished individuals with vast experience in governance and public administration. Some of the prominent participants include Justice M N Venkatachaliah, Justice J S Verma, Justice Santosh Hedge, Justice Rajindar Sachar, Sri N Gopalaswami, Sri T S Krishnamurthy, Sri Pratyush Sinha, Shri Kuldip Nayar, Sri Shanti Bhushan, Sri Soli Sorabjee, Admiral RH Tahiliani, Sri PS Ramamohana Rao and Sri C Anjaneya Reddy. Civil Society activists who participated include Ms Kiran Bedi, Shri Prashant Bhushan, Sri Arvind Kejriwal, Sri Swami Agnivesh, Sri Nikhil Dey, Ms Maja Daruwala and Sri Venkatesh Nayak.
The discussion primarily centred around Lokpal’s jurisdiction, composition, its powers in respect of suo moto, complaints, investigations, the nature of complaints, the role of CVC and the CBI, appointment of independent prosecutors and so on. An important point touched by the panellists included enlarging and redefining corruption. The panel while recognising the importance of the basic structure of our Constitution and the existing checks and balances, looked at the need to have a strong Ombudsman institution. While emphasizing the importance in protecting our existing institutions, they also highlighted the need to look beyond a single law. To get an insight into the various submissions and recommendations of the panel read the Consensus Report