HC dismisses plea for Hazare's ouster from Lokpal Bill panel

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today dismissed a plea for removal of activist Anna Hazare from the Lokpal Bill drafting committee on ground of alleged corruption in one of his trusts, saying setting up of the panel was in the executive's exclusive domain.

A division bench of Chief Justice Deepak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna turned down the plea saying that the suitability of the persons on the panel could not be a matter of judicial review and did not warrant any interference from judiciary.

"It is a resolution passed by the Ministry of Law and Justice for drafting a bill. It can be treated as an internal matter of the executive and exclusively in the domain of the executive," the bench said.

"The suitability of the persons, we are disposed to think, cannot be a matter of judicial review.

"We don't perceive any public interest involved in this petition. Accordingly, the writ petition does not deserve to be entertained and the same stands dismissed," the bench said.

The petition seeking ouster of Hazare, 71, was filed by a civil society organisation Jan Shakti, alleging corruption in the administration of his Hind Swaraj Trust.