Lokpal bill: Kejriwal needs to avoid prior reference to Centre

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal has little chance of fulfilling his promise of passing the Jan Lokpal Bill in two weeks unless he jolts the Delhi bureaucracy out of a deeply-entrenched mindset. Though there is no such legal requirement , Delhi is accustomed to making a prior reference to the Centre of each and every legislative proposal. So Kejriwal’s immediate challenge will be to get the Bill introduced in the assembly without going into the loop of vetting by the Centre.

Whether or not he musters enough support on the floor of the assembly for the passage of the bill, Kejriwal will first have to convince the bureaucracy that the Centre could have its say in the matter after and not before the enactment . Since it will be rescinding the 1995 Lokayukta law which had received the President’s assent, lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung is anyway likely to send it to the Centre if and when AAP’s minority government pushes the bill through Delhi assembly.

AAP’s legal argument is that neither Article 239A of Constitution nor NCT Act of Delhi 1991 stipulates any prior reference to the Centre for any legislative proposal. The practice of doing so emerged from a subordinate legislation, clause 55 of the transaction of business rules. Since this provision applies only to finance bills and other specified proposals, it is debatable whether the Jan Lokpal Bill would come under its ambit.

For AAP, given its origins in the Anna Hazare movement , Jan Lokpal Bill is far more than just another law. So much so that even when Parliament passed the Lokpal Bill earlier this month, AAP denounced it as ‘Jokepal’ for not providing enough independence and powers to the proposed anti-corruption ombudsman at the Centre. AAP’s political compulsion is to come up with a bill which it can claim to be better than that of the Centre.

From its draft bill, Aam Aadmi Party’s main cocerns seem to be the following: Despite the improvements made in the bill passed by Parliament, the selection of Lokpal members will be by a committee that is dominated by the political class, which has a vital stake in having an effete ombudsman. The Lokpal created by the Centre will have only a supervisory power over CBI. AAP has been demanding that Lokpal should also have administrative control over CBI to make it truly independent of the government. AAP may, therefore, seek to create for Delhi an anti-corruption investigating agency which comes exclusively under Lokpal. Unlike the Central bill, AAP’s model entrusts Lokpal with the responsibility of protecting whistleblowers. Jan Lokpal Bill will also deal with the citizen’s charter and redress of public grievances. Consistent with its expansive vision of Lokpal, AAP may also try to bring members of the Delhi subordinate judiciary under its ambit.