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New Delhi, May 2 (ANI): Asserting that broad contours of the Lokpal Bill will be finalised by June 30, Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday described the second meeting to be conducive, saying the bill will be introduced in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

“The meeting was extremely conducive to the dialogue that we have decided to initiate. We hope that by June 30, we would have decided on the broad contours and drafted a Lokpal Bill to be introduced in Parliament,” said Sibal, reiterating that the government is committed to bring in an effective Lokpal Bill to deal with the menace of corruption.

Sibal, who is one of the members of the Lokpal Bill, further said: “The civil society members on the joint drafting committee presented a document with respect to the objects of the Bill as well as a document, which enunciated the general principles underlying the bill.”

“The talks were very good. The civil society members and we will think about the proposals given by both sides and discuss again in our next meeting to be held on May 7. But the meeting was very good, very cooperative. There was no difference of opinion,” he added.

Meanwhile, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who represents the civil society, said that it was decided to increase the frequency of meetings.

“The next meeting is scheduled on Saturday. In today’s meeting, the objectives and principles of the draft Lokpal Bill were discussed, keeping in view the provisions of United Nations conventions against corruption,” Bhushan told reporters after the meeting.

The Joint Drafting Committee comprising five Union Ministers and as many representatives of the civil society to frame an effective anti-graft law held its second meeting earlier in the day to discuss the latest version of the Jan Lokpal Bill prepared by anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare’s team.

Today’s meeting came against the backdrop of differences on the inclusion of judiciary in the anti-graft legislation.

At a round-table organised recently, two former Chief Justices of India - J S Verma and M N Venkatachalaiah - had opposed inclusion of Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts in the proposed legislation.

The latest version has a new clause, Clause 13-C, which gives wide powers to ‘an appropriate bench of the Lokpal’ to approve interception and monitoring of messages or data or voice transmitted through telephones, internet or any other medium as covered under the India Telegraph Act, read with Information and Technology Act 2000.

Another new provision in this draft is for setting up of a separate ‘prosecution wing’ for the office of Lokpal, which is already envisaged to have powers to investigate.

The draft was circulated to government representatives during the Committee’s fist meeting on April 16. (ANI)