Controversy dogs activists ahead of meet on Lok Pal

Noida/New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Controversy broke out
tonight over a CD involving eminent lawyer Shanti Bhushan as
civil society activists and five senior Union ministers meet
here on Saturday to discuss drafting of an effective Lok Pal
Bill to tackle corruption in government.
The activists led by Anna Hazare, who called off his
fast-unto-death agitation last week after government conceded
his demand for a Joint Drafting Committee on the legislation,
were at pains to declare that they had nothing to hide and
offered themselves for any probe into allegations against
them.
At a press conference in Noida, activists Prashant
Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal alleged that a "concerted smear"
campaign has been launched against them to benefit the corrupt
people.
Bhushan claimed that a CD implicating his father
Shanti Bhushan purportedly having conversations with political
leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh as "fabricated"
after splicing various conversations on corruption in
judiciary, H R Bharadwaj and PILs done by him.
Shanti Bhushan has filed a complaint with Delhi Police
on which a case of forgery has been registered.
Amar Singh said, "this is not a new tape. This is not
a new incident. This is a selective leak at a selective time."
"In my eyes it is fake. I respect Shanti Bhushan. I
am not blaming him. I dont play with law," he said adding he
wanted to know who is behind the tape.
He also said while Prashant Bhushan dismisses his
claim of fabrication relating to a CD involving him (Amar
Singh), the lawyer was now making a claim of fabrication when
it comes to him.
On the eve of the first meeting of the Joint Drafting
Committee, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who chairs
the joint panel held a meeting with four members of the
committee from the government side -- Home Minister P
Chidambaram, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Law Minister M Veerappa
Moily and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid, all
lawyers.
Government also said it had an open mind on the
proposed legislation and hoped that discussions will pave the
way for a convergence of ideas.
Hazare is also one of the members in the committee
from civil society besides Shanti Bhushan, who co-chairs the
panel, his son Prashant Bhushan, former Supreme Court judge
Santosh Hegde and RTI activist Kejriwal.
From the activists' side it was made clear that they
would press for making the Jan Lok Pal Bill, seeking to bring
within its ambit Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and
bureaucrats, prepared by them as the "working draft".
They also said the proceedings of the meetings should
be videographed for greater transparency.
The activists said the proposed bill should be drafted
through public consultations and that the government should
give clause-wise objections to the Jan Lok Pal Bill.
They, however, added that the government's objections
were negotiable.
On the issue of videographing the meeting, Bhushan
and Kejriwal said they will raise the issue with the
committee.
"We do not mind even the live telecast of the
proceedings but that cannot be possible. If not video
recording, at least there should be audio recording so that it
is available for people," Bhushan said adding important
proceedings were recorded in other countries.
Asked about Hazare's statement that the Lok Pal will
not cover higher judiciary, Kejriwal said they would argue
for including the Chief Justice of India under the ambit of
Lokpal.
"Hazare has earlier said that Chief Justice should not
be under Lokpal. But in a meeting today, we decided that when
Prime Minister is sought to be included in the Lok Pal why not
not Chief Justice of India. We will ask the panel to
look into it. There is no question of excluding judiciary," he
said.
Kejriwal said only criminal misconduct by the judges
is being sought to be probed under the Lok Pal bill and not
not the professional misconduct.
On Divijay Singh's statement that NGOs should also be
brought under the purview of the Lok Pal bill, he said
already the draft Lok Pal bill has powers to initiate inquries
where undue benefits have been extended by government
officials.
Both the briber giver and receiver are under its
purview which also automatically brings corporates and NGOs
under its scrutiny, he added.
Kejriwal dismissed apprehensions that Lok Pal will be
a 'supercop' saying all checks and balances are in place.
Khurshid told reporters in New Delhi that government
has an open mind on the issue.
"The meeting is taking place tomorrow. We are going
there with an open mind. The government, civil society and
common people - all have one target that there should be
greater transparency and responsibilities should be clearly
fixed in the bill," he said.
"When we take the bill before Parliament, it should be
endorsed and passed," Khurshid said.
Asked whether the government will concede demands that
MPs should also be allowed to give their suggestions to the
committee, Khurshid said, "Nobody has stopped anybody from
airing his views."
The minister also disapproved of political parties
raking up issues related to the proposed Bill, saying it would
be better if comments are made only after an outline on the
bill emerges.
"Otherwise if we keep on discussing in the meeting who
said what, I do not think this is going to make the main job
any easier," he said.
Khurshid also dismissed suggestions that the
government "surrendered" before the civil rights activists by
agreeing to the joint committee after an agitation led by
Hazare who went on an hunger strike to press their demand for
wider powers to the Ombudsman to check corruption.
He parried a question on whether the alleged
underpayment of stamp duty by lawyer Shanti Bhushan for his
house in Allahabad was not ironical as he is now part of a
committee to draft an anti-corruption bill.
"This is not a comprehensive MRI scan on whole body
for each one of us.... All of us are subject to public
scrutiny, public pronouncements and public judgements. If you
are in public life and do anything which is associated with
public institutions then you have to be willing and ready for
it," he said.
Moily expressed hope that the discussions will pave
way for a "convergence of ideas" on the anti-corruption
legislation.
"We are holding the meeting tomorrow. We have not yet
finalised the strategies or modalities... how to go about it.
We will see," he told PTI.
Asked about the vast difference between the proposed
drafts of the government and civil society, he said, "We
should not think about differences.
"We should think about fusion only. We will discuss.
Let us see. The ideas may converge also after the
discussions," Moily said.
Sources in the government said that "nothing big" can
be expected in the first meeting of the committee comprising
government and civil society representatives but voiced hope
that ice will melt after three or four rounds.
They said the government will attend the meeting
without any agenda and would give a patient hearing to the
activists.
If the other side demands any document or draft bills,
they said, then the government will consider giving them.
On the timeframe of finalising the draft, sources said
they expect to complete the exercise by June 30 as fixed in
the notification constituting the committee.