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Appointed the co-chairman of the much-talked about Lokpal Bill panel, former law and justice minister Shanti Bhushan speaks to rediff.com's Onkar Singh on the urgent need of ant-corruption law, why Baba Ramdev finds no place on the committee and more.
"There is no controversy whatsoever of bringing the prime minister within the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. Even the bill drafted by the government has the provision to bring the PM under its scanner," Shanti Bhushan, former minister of law and justice in the Morarji Desai government (1977-1979) told rediff.com on Thursday. Bhushan has been appointed as the co-chairman of the 10-member committee, which will draft the new Lok Pal bill to be brought before Parliament. He is among the five members nominated by social activist Anna Hazare who will represent the civil society at the panel.
"We are not dealing with individual cases at the moment. The basic aim is to have strong anti-corruption laws in place, as passed by the United Nations in 2005. It's the need of the hour," Bhushan said.
"I had pushed for a bill to fight corruption during Morarji bhai's government but it could not be passed. A sharp rise in corruption at the political and administrative level makes it mandatory that we have stiff anti-corruption laws to fight and eradicate this growing menace," he added. He did not rule out dealing with corrupt individuals if such cases come to light.
Bhushan conceded that yoga guru Baba Ramdev had made a controversial statement on representatives of the civil society on the draft committee.
"Baba Ramdev was responding to a question asked by a mediaperson as to why his name did not figure on the five-member list prepared by Hazare. I spoke to him and told him that the panel was about drafting a bill, which needs legal understanding and expertise. If there was something on yoga then he can stake his claim," said the former law minister.
Alleging nepotism in the Lokpal Bill panel, Ramdev has raised objections about the selection of both Shanti Bhushan and his advocate son Prashant, but later retracted his statement.
Talking about the first meeting of the panel scheduled for Saturday, Bhushan said, "Our meeting on April 16 will deal with procedures. Since there is likely to be no dispute on the matter the committee headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to go beyond the discussion," the panel's chairman explained.
To a question on who would be calling the shots on behalf of the civil society during the process of drafting the bill, Bhushan said, "Anna Hazare has led the movement so he will be calling the shots. I am only helping in drafting the bill. We will meet on Friday to chalk out our strategy for the first meeting," he said.
Mukherjee will head the panel and other government representatives include Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily and Minister of Water Resources Salman Khursheed.