Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) As the parliamentary panel tabled its report on the Lokpal bill Friday, Team Anna members termed the draft legislation weak and urged people to join the agitation against it.

Team Anna members said the parliamentary committee has not suggested many changes and the draft bill will only increase corruption.

“We urge the people to come to Jantar Mantar on 11th of this month to tell the government that this kind of betrayal will not take place any more,” Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal said.

“They say NGOs should be in its ambit, companies should be in its ambit, all should be in its ambit, but they have a problem in bringing the prime minister in its ambit… Neither the peon is under its ambit, nor the prime minister is in its ambit,… who is in its ambit?” he said.

Speaking on similar lines, another key member of the team Prashant Bhushan said the Lokpal draft bill had no powers.

“A Lokpal - which does not have any investigative machinery of its own and has to depend on a government controlled investigative machinery; which does not have jurisdiction over lower bureaucracy where most of the corruption takes place, and on top of that does not even have jurisdiction of corruption that is on the prime minister, higher judiciary and MPs when they take bribe for voting in parliament,” Bhushan said.

“It does not even provide for a citizen’s charter and creates tremendous confusion about who will start investigation against which public servant by dividing the jurisdiction between higher bureaucracy, lower bureaucracy etc… this is likely to only increase corruption than being able to control corruption,” he said.

“Therefore, there is no option left for us but to make people aware.”

The report of the parliamentary committee on the Lokpal bill was tabled in parliament Friday. Social activist Anna Hazare, who has been fighting for an anti-graft legislation to create an ombudsman, will be sitting on a one-day token fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi Sunday to oppose the draft.