So on Tuesday(21 june 2011) the final meeting of Lokpal panel occurred it was convened at the office of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, chairman of the drafting committee. Only P Chidambaram, who is in Jammu and Kashmir, missed the meeting.
1.As decided at Monday's meeting two groups exchanged their drafts and both would be merged as a single document with a list of pending issues.
2.As agreed by both groups these contentious issues will be decided upon by the Cabinet after an all-party meet om july 7.Whatever will be decided after the cabinet meeting, will be the final draft and it will be introduced in Parliament in the Monsoon Session.
3.The issues on which the to sides still differ include: Inclusion of the prime Minister, conduct of MPs in floor of Parliament, inclusion of higher judiciary, merging investigative wings of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Central Vigilance Commission with the Lokpal and selection and removal of the Lokpal.
Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the Government's version of the Lokpal which envisages just one anti-corruption authority for the entire country was not feasible.
Kejriwal claimed that the civil society wanted a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas at the state level but the Government did not agree.
There is Great Disappointment in both the groups
"This Lokpal will be dominated by political class. It will be limited to enquire into corruption by senior officers, excluding the Prime Minister, higher judiciary and MPs. The Government has submitted its draft bill to us. For the first time we are able to see what kind of Lokpal the government has in mind. We are deeply disappointed. The Lokpal will be appointed by a political selection committee. The powers and functions have been greatly limited," said Bhushan.
Well I hope that the bill will be in its best form after all the meets n discussions. BUt it is also true that the best bill will be unable to beat corruption if we, the citizens remain silent towards bribe! Same is happening with our Constitution
Sources http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=106192
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/final-lokpal-meet-over-logjam-continues/161445-3.html
Eighth Meeting
The only one contentious issue came up for discussion at Monday's meeting between the government representatives and the civil society members of the Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill.
It was the selection and removal of Lokpal members. The two sides differed on both counts. The government preferred a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the leaders of both the Houses, the Leaders of the Opposition of both the Houses, the Home Minister, a judge of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of a High Court and the Cabinet Secretary. The civil society members opposed this, saying it was packed with politicians; instead, they suggested a committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition, two Supreme Court judges, two High Court Chief Justices, the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) and the Election Commissioner.
As for the removal, the government sought to reserve for itself the right to approach the Supreme Court with the complaint, while the civil society members proposed that any citizen be free to send a complaint to the Chief Justice.
Many other things happened in the meet like after several rounds of discussions, Arvind Kejriwal, (civil society representative) wanted to submit their draft on the same day of meet i.e Monday itself. But Mukherjee and HRD minister Kapil Sibal refused to take the “uncleaned” draft. The civil society was told to submit their clean draft on Tuesday. The government too, will be working overtime to prepare its final draft.
Contentious issues such as bringing the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary under the ambit of the Lokpal, or ombudsman, could not be discussed in the Monday meeting
Sources: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2121022.ece http://www.livemint.com/2011/06/20232459/Lokpal-meet-8216friendly8.html
Seventh meeting
The seventh meeting of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee ended on Wednesday without any breakthrough and Consensus. Both sides rather actually blamed each other for the panel's failure to
"It was not good...nothing came of it," said Arvind Kejriwal
Mr Kejriwal accused the government of wanting to "kill Lokpal before it is born."
arrive at a consensus on the Lokpal Bill draft.
While Union HRD and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said that the civil society and the Government representatives will try to arrive at a consensus on all the issues at the next meetings on June 20 and 21. Whole Team promised to present the bill by June 30
The irreconcilable differences between the ministers and the activists were underscored by Kapil Sibal, who said that if no consensus is reached, two versions of the Lokpal Bill will be forwarded to the Cabinet. "Structurally there is no convergence of opinion as to what the Lokpal should be," Sibal,said.
BACKGROUND
The activists insist that for the Lokpal Bill to be effective, it must cover the Prime Minister and senior judges. The government disagrees.
Sixth Meeting ( main points in GOLDEN)
sixth meeting of 6 June 2011 was boycotted by civil society against the raid of Baba Ramdev's SATHYA GRAH by government. Showing anger Anna with Arvind Kejriwal n kiran bedi n others do a one day long fast on RAJ GHAT. Plan was to do it on Jantar Mantar but GOVT. didn't allow it.
At the meeting, the government members discussed whether Lokpal members should be barred from contesting elections on and whether the office of Prime Minister should be brought under the purview of the Lokpal.
The five Ministers failed to reach consensus on whether Lokpal members should be barred from contesting elections as it was suggested that a person's eligibility was laid out in the Constitution and any attempt to bar would need a constitutional amendment. One Minister even opposed the idea to bar the members from contesting elections. They decided to leave the issue to the Cabinet for a final decision.
Similarly, on the issue of inclusion of the office of Prime Minister under the ambit of the Lokpal, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee took the stand that any inquiry should be suspended till the Prime Minister held the office and, once he demitted office, an inquiry could be initiated.
As regards former Ministers, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram held that all those covered by the Prevention of Corruption Act should be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal even after retirement.
The meeting favoured inclusion of Ministers, former Ministers, MPs and former MPs under the ambit of the Lokpal.
Fifth Meeting(IMPortant matter is in points in GOLDen)
After a marathon three hour meeting, the government refused to concede to the basic principles demanded by Anna Hazare and his nominees.1 Government disagreed on the Prime Minister coming under the purview of the Lokpal. They further disagreed over the inclusion of judiciary under the Lokpal because government was view that it should be self-regulatory, but the civil society members disagreed it.
Prashant Bhushan said
"The government's views were that both the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary should be outside the purview of the Lokpal. They said that if there is a corruption investigation against the PM, it will render the PM dysfunctional,"
"Both sides are constructively looking at those divergences and will meet next time on the 6th of June and thereafter on the 10th of June to resolve some of these issues. In the meantime we have decided the committee will be writing to the state governments and the political parties," said Kapil Sibal
So for now the 2. Government is buying time by writing to the states and parties for their views before taking a final decision.
In front of the cameras some divisions within Team Anna were showing over including the Prime
Mr Kejriwal had said.
"The Prime Minister wants to be investigated by an agency which works directly under him,"
Clarifying it, Mr Bhushan immediately said,
"Prime Minister has probably been taking the view that he should be under the purview of the Lokpal, but some of the other members of the cabinet have taken this view that the Prime Minister should be out of the purview of the Lokpal."
So finally there was a meeting on a matter which is precious for the bill
Edited n derived from: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/jan-lokpal-bill-panel-headed-for-a-breakdown-109097
Edited n derived from: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/jan-lokpal-bill-panel-headed-for-a-breakdown-109097
In this meeting there was concern over the slow process of bill formation meeting by Shanti Bhushan(co chairman of the committee representing civil society).On the other hand Sibal said that after the three-hour meeting that the draft Lokpal Bill would be ready for introduction in the monsoon
session of parliament as announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He said there was agreement on several basic subjects
of the Bill during the discussions.
With barely five weeks left for the mutually accepted deadline of June 30 to prepare the draft bill, other civil society groups have also stepped up pressure on the joint panel to complete its work on time.
So in short, the main happening in the meeting is the desire n demand to speed up the process of the bill formation till june 30 so it can face the monsoon session of the parliment.
edited from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/8535007.cms
Third meeting (imP points in Golden)
The joint panel for drafting Lokpal Bill crossed a major hurdle in its third meeting on Saturday with the
1. Government agreeing on the contentious issue of giving Lokpal the authority for initiating inquiry or prosecution without seeking permission from any other agency. The panel, however, could not reach an agreement on including the Prime Minister and the judiciary under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal.
“There was an agreement that the Lokpal will have the right to initiate investigation and prosecution on corruption charges against almost anyone. On whether the Prime Minister and the judiciary should be included in it is a separate issue that will be discussed further,” said one of the civil society representatives, Prashant Bhushan. It was part of the non-negotiable basic features that the civil society group had passed to the Government in the second meeting of the panel. 2. Sources said for this feature to come in to effect, appropriate amendments would be required in the Prevention of Corruption Act and Delhi Police Establishment Act.
Describing the meeting as “exceptionally constructive”, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said there was an agreement on several issues such as the
3. Lokayukta must not be under the control of the Government, it must be of unquestionable integrity, its process of appointment should be transparent and the Lokpal should be an independent authority with financial independence.
4. “There were several issues which clash with other laws and constitutional provisions and need more discussion. But I will not like to identify those,” said Sibal.
5. He said the panel has decided to start the drafting of the Bill on issues where there is agreement on both sides and have discussion on areas which have legal and constitutional problems.
6. The Government also agreed on making the civil society’s Jan Lokpal Bill the basic legal framework for drafting the final Bill that will be tabled before Parliament. Hazare group had argued that the Jan Lokpal Bill was very close to the Government’s own Lokpal Bill, drafted under the chairmanship of Morarajee Desai in 1968, and thus, should serve as the basic framework for adoption. The civil society group also suggested that the Lokpal model at the Centre should be taken to all the states.
The commitee will meet again on May 23 and 30.
Highlighted From: http://expressbuzz.com/nation/centre-agrees-to-lokpal%E2%80%99s-independent-authority/272457.html
Second Meeting(Upgraded)
Second Joint commitee meeting of janlokpal occurred on MAY 2 2011 .
Sibal said the meeting was very condensive without any difference of opinion
HAPPENINGS
The meeting, chaired by Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, went on for about two-and-a-half hours after it started at 11.30 am. The proceedings were audio-recorded.
- Civil society members of the committee- Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan- submitted two documents to the government on the proposed legislation
- The second meeting comes in the backdrop of differences on the inclusion of judiciary in the anti-graft legislation.
{At a round-table organised recently, two former Chief Justices of India - J S Verma and M N Venkatachalaiah - had opposed inclusion of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts in the proposed legislation}.
The meeting, chaired by Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, went on for about two-and-a-half hours after it started at 11.30 am. The proceedings were audio-recorded.
{At a round-table organised recently, two former Chief Justices of India - J S Verma and M N Venkatachalaiah - had opposed inclusion of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts in the proposed legislation}.
Results
- Presently, only the Union Home Ministry has the right to tab telephonic conversations. But according to new 'clause 31C' in the latest janlokpal draft, a Lokpal’ can ‘approve interception and monitoring of messages or data or voice transmitted through telephones, internet or any other medium as covered under the India Telegraph Act, read with Information and Technology Act 2000’.
The new draft also suggests setting up of a separate prosecution wing for Lokpal.
{The draft was circulated to government representatives during the Committee's first meeting on April 16}.
The new draft also suggests setting up of a separate prosecution wing for Lokpal.
{The draft was circulated to government representatives during the Committee's first meeting on April 16}.
. Dates
The committee will meet again on May 7, 23 and 30.
Others
Rallies were held in more than 20 cities including Delhi Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur, Indore, Silchar, Jaipur, Moradabad, Raipur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Chandigarh, Hojai (Assam), Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram and Vishakapatnam by Hazare's supporters.
"People are expecting a lot out of the joint committee and we are all conscious of the fact what they are expecting.
"I don't see any reason, I don't doubt at all that we as drafting committee or they as government are in any way going to be marking time," former IPS officer Kiran Bedi said.
"I don't see any reason, I don't doubt at all that we as drafting committee or they as government are in any way going to be marking time," former IPS officer Kiran Bedi said.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/jan-lokpal-bill-2nd-meeting-of-joint-drafting-committee-today-102698?cp
FIRST MEETING
First refuse to civil society was audio recording of the joint community meeting because videography was demanded by them
as per sources Lokpal bill also got some changes discussed in the meeting
According to the sources,
- The Prime Minister and the leader of party will be on the commiittee which will choose the Lokpal.
- Lokpal will not have the power to suspend Cabinet ministers and judges.
- In case government refuses to transfer an officer as suggested by the Lokpal, then the Lokpal will have to approach court to appeal for his will
- The appointing and disciplinary authority of the Lokpal has also been removed.
"It was rumoured that we agreed to the exclusion of the prime minister, cabinet ministers and judiciary from Lokpal's purview. Civil Society members have certainly not agreed to any of the above. Jan Lokpal Bill version 2.2 was presented to the government of India at the first meeting," he said.
Law Minsiter Veerappa Moily, who is also a panel member, has promised that the bill will be prepared by June 30 and be presented in Parliament in the monsoon session.
So there is a confusion on what actually happened in meeting. Sources are saying of the changes but activist and civil society are refusing it!
Please show some transparency as promised!!
So there is a confusion on what actually happened in meeting. Sources are saying of the changes but activist and civil society are refusing it!
Please show some transparency as promised!!
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