Parliamentary Committee to submit Lokpal report in Dec: Khurshid

Chandigarh: The Parliamentary panel scrutinising the Lokpal Bill is likely to submit its report early next month and the redrafted legislation will be “far superior” to anything that has been proposed so far, Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid said Sunday. “It is before the Standing Committee. We are waiting for the Committee to give report. He (Committee Chairman) has indicated that in the first week of December, they will be able to give the report,” Khurshid said while speaking at North Zone Lawyers’ Conference on Legal and Electoral Reforms organised by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee here. Standing Committee Chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was among those present, said, “The speed and the direction of the committee are nothing short of a miracle. [caption id=“attachment_130010” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid. Prakash Singh/AFP”] [/caption] “We are hoping to complete our work soon and fast but we refused to give any deadline as it would be unfair to the Committee and its members.” Khurshid said that once the Bill is made available by the Standing Committee, “We will be going around the country talking to all enlightened people saying this Bill is far superior to anything that has been proposed or suggested”. Singhvi said the Committee will start its own internal deliberations from tomorrow. “I hope we will be able to do our job in quickest possible time…but there are more than 15-17 issues like the inclusion of the Prime Minister (etc)..there are strong pro and con arguments and every argument is being looked at”. Singhvi said that majority of issues are those on which “there cannot be any major debate unless one wants to make it political”. The term of the committee was recently extended till 7 December. Team Anna which has been campaigning for a strong Lokpal Bill has demanded that the Bill be brought in the Winter Session of Parliament which is scheduled to begin on 22 November and continue till 23 December. Both Khurshid and Bansal gave a thumbs down to opinion polls, which they felt are “not conducted in a scientific manner and are impractical in a society as diverse in nature as ours”. “Yesterday, I saw an opinion poll on TV which said 99.9 percent people in Amethi (constituency of Rahul Gandhi) will not vote for that MP if he does not support the Jan Lokpal Bill. I am not naming that MP nor naming the person who did that opinion poll…. I leave it to your intelligence (to draw your own inferences),” he told the gathering. Khurshid also said that they were looking at technologies available so that candidates may not come to know from which pockets people have voted against them. He, however, added that this was something which will need to have consensus among political parties. He also talked about reforms that will keep persons convicted of heinous crimes away from contesting polls, but added this proposal too will need consensus among parties. On the legal reforms, he said judges themselves are bound by a code of ethics and what the Government was trying to do is to give a statutory form to it. Khurshid, however, said that the larger issue remains on how the judges are to be appointed. “More consultations on this are needed. We are talking to a number of retired eminent judges. We are also talking to a lot of sitting judges so that we come to an idea what is the best way how judges can be appointed,” he said, adding that in UK they have made far reaching changes, which were also being looked at. On the Collegium system of judges appointment, he said, “In India, we do believe it has to be made more transparent”. He also asserted that while reforms have to be there, it has to be ensured that these do not come in the way of judiciary’s independence. On the bills that are in the pipeline, the Law Minister said the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill will be taken up first. During the next session, he also hoped that the Bill relating to high value commercial cases will be passed so that cases of such nature are disposed of in a fast track mode and in a time-bound manner. He also stressed upon the need to tackle pendency of cases in various courts across the country and to meet the shortage of the judges, with Uttar Pradesh alone having 100 vacancies in the High Court level and Punjab and Haryana High Court having 23. Later answering questions on “Uncle Judges”, he said recommendations from the Chief Justice of India in this regard keep coming from time to time. When asked if there was any such recommendation in recent times, he said, “Yes, there is something in the pipeline”. He also said that in some cases judges seek time before being transferred out citing personal reasons and the courts normally accommodate such requests. Asked whether any Constitutional amendment was in the offing on the Lokpal Bill, he said it would be premature to say anything on this now. He, however, said that a recommendation to this effect had come from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. “In principle, we agree with this, but there is a process which is underway,” he said. Earlier, Khurshid targeted Team Anna. “When somebody says people of India are superior and above Parliament, in a sense it is true…Parliament is elected by people of India, but people of India cannot change the Constitution,” he said, adding constitution was a contract between the people themselves and those who are elected by them. “Even changes in the Constitution have to be limited so that its basic structure is not altered…. I also think it is wrong to say people are superior to Parliament because Parliament has been made superior by the people themselves,” he said. Khurshid said the Government was firm on tackling corruption, but it has to be careful and ensure that a structure created to deal with the menace itself does not become another breeding ground for it. “We cannot create another corrupt structure to deal with corruption. We have to create structure that will deal with the menace and not create more avenues (to breed corruption),” he said. With political parties in Punjab demanding a separate legislation governing marriages in the Sikh community, Khurshid said political leaders, cutting across party lines, had met him over the issue. The minister said he had asked his ministry to give him a comprehensive note on the matter. “We have already circulated a Cabinet note and a final view (on the Amendment) will be taken soon,” he said. The Centre had ruled out any amendment to the Anand Karaj (Marriage) Act of 1909 and said providing a separate Act for the Sikhs would invite similar demands from other communities. The marriages performed under Sikh religious rights are registered either under the Hindu Marriage Act or the Special Marriage Act. PTI