Lokpal Bill in monsoon session but no time limit,says Centre

A day after it managed to hold the first formal discussion with political parties on the issue of Lokpal,the Centre reaffirmed its commitment towards bringing the legislation.

A day after it managed to hold the first formal discussion with political parties on the issue of Lokpal,the Centre on Monday reaffirmed its commitment towards bringing the legislation in this regard in the monsoon session of Parliament,but was non-commital of when the Bill would be passed.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said Sundays meeting with political parties was successful in gauging their positions on the issue.

We are happy with the outcome of Sundays meeting. We will now introduce the Lokpal Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament. The Bill will be examined in accordance with established parliamentary procedures and we will try to pass the Bill at the earliest, he told reporters here.

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal added: We had never fixed any time limit on the passage of the Bill. Passage of the Bill would involving going through established parliamentary procedures and there cannot be a time line for that.

Chidambaram said divergent views were expressed by political parties at Sunday’s meeting but there was complete unanimity amongst everyone present that the anti-corruption body being mooted must be within existing framework of the Constitution. Everyone was of the opinion that there was no need to override the Constitution and its basic principles.

Many parties,including the BJP,did not spell out their clear stand on some of the contentious issues regarding the Bill and Chidambaram said it was legitimate and valid for the political parties to keep their views reserved for the time being.

He said the views of political parties on issues like inclusion of Prime Minister or the higher judiciary within the ambit of the proposed Lokpal were likely to change once the final draft approved by the Cabinet was presented to them.