Allahabad High Court issues notice to Attorney General over Lokpal Bill

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Attorney General of India on a writ petition by advocate Ashok Pande and social activist Dr Nutan Thakur challenging the resolution issued by the Centre to constitute a committee on Lokpal Bill.

The court asked the AG to appear before it to explain how and why the drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill was formed.

The order was passed by a bench comprising Chief Justice F I Rebello and Justice Devendra Kumar Arora.

The petitioner submitted that under existing constitutional provisions the Centre cannot issue resolution or notification to constitute a committee on Lokpal Bill.

The bench while directing the AG to file a reply in three weeks has fixed May 16 as the next date of hearing.

The government on April 8 agreed to issue a formal order to set up a joint committee for drafting an effective Lokpal Bill.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was made the chairman of the committee which also includes law minister Veerappa Moily, telecom minister Sibal, home minister P Chidambaram and water resources minister Salman Khurshid as members.

Besides Hazare, those representing the civil society in the joint committee are eminent lawyers Shanti Bhushan, Prasant Bhushan, retired Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hegde and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal.