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Former Chief Justices of India MN Venkatachaliah and JS Verma would present their views on the controversial Lokpal Bill before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, Personnel and Public Grievances next week.
The views of these constitutional experts would be crucial as it would help the panel in formulating its opinion on the issue, especially whether to give constitutional status to the Lokpal as advocated by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Parliament.
Moreover, they could give suggestions about whether to bring judiciary under the Lokpal as being demanded by Gandhian Anna Hazare or suggest some other measures to curb corruption in judiciary.
“The committee has invited Justices Venkatachaliah and Verma as being highly learned constitutional experts they could give crucial legal inputs and clear perspective on the Lokpal Bill,” sources said on Tuesday.
Though no date for their appearance before the committee has been finalised, it would be held only sometime next week as the panel is not holding any meeting this week due to ongoing Durga Puja, they said.
The committee has already heard the views of Team Anna which has demanded that all the provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill should be incorporated in the final draft of the Bill to be brought in the Winter Session of Parliament.
However, CVC Pradeep Kumar and CBI Director AP Singh, who appeared before the panel on Saturday, have already opposed Team Anna’s demand for including the anti-graft wings of the two agencies under the proposed Lokpal. Kumar has suggested that CVC and CBI Director should be made ex-officio members of the Lokpal while Singh felt that bringing CBI under Lokpal would be a retrograde step which would cripple the organisation.
NAC member Aruna Roy and Loksatta Party leader Jayprakash, both of them vocal critic of Jan Lokpal Bill, have also appeared before the committee to argue in support of their versions of the Bill already sent by Parliament to the panel.
Many legal experts like former Solicitor General Harish Salve have also opposed the provisions of Jan Lokpal Bill while others have demanded that corporate sector and NGOs should also be brought under purview of the Lokpal Bill.
The views of these constitutional experts would be crucial as it would help the panel in formulating its opinion on the issue, especially whether to give constitutional status to the Lokpal as advocated by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Parliament.
Moreover, they could give suggestions about whether to bring judiciary under the Lokpal as being demanded by Gandhian Anna Hazare or suggest some other measures to curb corruption in judiciary.
“The committee has invited Justices Venkatachaliah and Verma as being highly learned constitutional experts they could give crucial legal inputs and clear perspective on the Lokpal Bill,” sources said on Tuesday.
Though no date for their appearance before the committee has been finalised, it would be held only sometime next week as the panel is not holding any meeting this week due to ongoing Durga Puja, they said.
The committee has already heard the views of Team Anna which has demanded that all the provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill should be incorporated in the final draft of the Bill to be brought in the Winter Session of Parliament.
However, CVC Pradeep Kumar and CBI Director AP Singh, who appeared before the panel on Saturday, have already opposed Team Anna’s demand for including the anti-graft wings of the two agencies under the proposed Lokpal. Kumar has suggested that CVC and CBI Director should be made ex-officio members of the Lokpal while Singh felt that bringing CBI under Lokpal would be a retrograde step which would cripple the organisation.
NAC member Aruna Roy and Loksatta Party leader Jayprakash, both of them vocal critic of Jan Lokpal Bill, have also appeared before the committee to argue in support of their versions of the Bill already sent by Parliament to the panel.
Many legal experts like former Solicitor General Harish Salve have also opposed the provisions of Jan Lokpal Bill while others have demanded that corporate sector and NGOs should also be brought under purview of the Lokpal Bill.
