Acknowledging that consensus eluded the all-party meeting on Lokpal
issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Thursday
said government was confident that it would be able to table the
proposed bill in the Winter Session itself.
“I believe that it would be possible. On Wednesday, there was an
all-party meeting where 35 different parties participated. All had
different views on the issue. To say there was broad consensus on the
issue would be wrong. This has increased the work load of the
government,” Mr. Bansal said.
“How to compile these 35 different views and then also bringing in
government views and to make amendments in the proposed bill,” Mr.
Bansal said, referring to the task at government’s hand.
However, “We are working hard on it and I am confident we will be present it in this session,” he said.
When pointed out that only one week of the Parliament session was
remaining, Mr. Bansal said, “We will have to do a lot of hard work and
only then it would be possible.”
“Even if we do it by 20-21st I don’t think why it cannot be done. On one
day it can be discussed in one house and on the other day it can be
done in the second house,” he said.
Mr. Bansal said that there was a range of opinions expressed at the all-party meeting held over Lokpal.
“There was no consensus at the all party meeting. Some were of the view
that why were we hastening up the whole process. Our aim is how to find a
consensus view from the different views given by the parties,” he said.
“Some were of the view that Group C should be brought under the Lokpal
and some were opposed to the idea as it involved 35 lakh central
employees. And how will one institution look after the complaints
received against them,” Mr. Bansal said.
“Government has started working now on the issue and its sole effort is
to see how we can come up with the bill as soon as possible,” he said.
Asked what if the Bill cannot be placed during this session of
Parliament, Mr. Bansal said, “This question does not arise at this
moment. This is too premature and I will say we are working on it.”
When asked what would be his request to Anna Hazare, he said, “We are
not talking to him, whatever he does is his right. But being an
honourable citizen of the nation he should understand that Parliament’s
job can be done by Parliament only.”
“People’s ‘fatwa’ is with Parliament, which includes more than 500
members of Lok Sabha and more than 240 members of Rajya Sabha and they
have been given the responsibility that they have to make laws. And we
are doing our work,” Mr. Bansal said.
Keywords: Lokpal Bill, Parliament Session, Winter Session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.K. Bansal, UPA Government
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