Lokpal meet ends on a positive note

Though new areas of disagreement emerge, both Team Anna and govt term talks 'very cordial'

Lokpal meet ends on a positive note

Though new areas of disagreement emerge, both Team Anna and govt term talks 'very cordial'

The joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill agreed on most of the issues in a meeting held yesterday.

However,u00a0 new areas of disagreement like the manner of selection and removal of the ombudsman came up, adding to persisting differences on contentious aspects.

Both the government and the Anna Hazare team said the three-hour-long meeting was held in a "very cordial atmosphere" but differed on the extent of its success.

Anna Hazare gestures to the media after the eighth meeting of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill. The government agreed to only 11 of the 40 matters raised by civil society

The committee will meet today for the last time during which both the sides will exchange their drafts and invite comments.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that 80 to 85 per cent issues were resolved while activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan differed on the percentage but agreed that there was consensus on majority of the issues.

"There is a broad agreement on a range of issues. It is a major step forward. Both sides feel we should move towards a consensus to formulate a draft where difficult issues of divergence are spelt out when it goes to political parties sometime in July," Sibal said.

Monsoon mission
On the basis of this, a strong Lokpal Bill can be drafted and sent to the Cabinet so that it can be introduced
in Parliament in the Monsoon Session.

Bhushan said both sides agreed on minor issues and differences persisted on contentious issues such as bringing the Prime Minister, higher judiciary and the conduct of MPs inside Parliament under the Lokpal's ambit.

He said "two new issues" of divergence came up. These relate to the constitution of the selection panel and procedure for removal of Lokpal.

Meanwhile, Hazare said the meeting was good but left it to Bhushan and other associates to give details.

New differences
Shedding light on the new issues that came up, Bhushan said, "According to the government version, the appointment committee will be filled with politicians and government officials. Our bill has provision for an independent, broad-based committee like the one for the Chief Election Commissioner's selection."

The government version proposes that the selection committee should comprise the Prime Minister, Speaker, Leaders of both Houses of Parliament, Leaders of Opposition of both Houses, Lok Sabha Speaker, Home Minister, Cabinet Secretary, a Supreme Court judge and a High Court Chief Justice, Kejriwal said.

"In their committee, there are more politicians," he said and questioned this move, contending that the appointment of the Lokpal will then be under the direct control of those against whom the ombudsman would be conducting investigations at some stage.

Removal of Lokpal
On the removal procedure of the Lokpal, Bhushan said the government position was that only the executive can approach the Supreme Court in this regard while the civil society insisted that "anyone" could move the apex court for the purpose. "These are new areas of differences which came up," he said.

Kejriwal said the government circulated a exhaustive note which detailed the areas of agreement and disagreement.

He said out of the 40 issues raised by Team Anna, the government had agreed on 11. "The issue of bringing the post of Prime Minister under purview of Lokpal was not discussed today," he said about the meeting which was not attended by Justice Santosh Hegde, one of the five members of the civil society. He will attend today's meeting.