'Sense of the House' on Lokpal can't be violated: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party will on Thursday submit a note of dissent on the draft Lokpal bill to Abhishek Singhvi, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal Bill.

The note, prepared by members in consultation with Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, wants that the Central Bureau of Investigation's director be appointed in same manner as the Lokpal.

In a move that will satisfy Team Anna, which is spearheading the movement for a strong Lokpal bill, all 31 members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee agreed to include Class III category of bureaucrats within the Lokpal's ambit.

A committee member, who talked to rediff.com on condition of anonymity, said: "We have decided to include the Class III category of bureaucrats (in Lokpal's purview). Anna Hazare also wanted Class IV government servants to be under the purview of Lokpal. But this category has been excluded following the sixth pay commission."

The committee member wondered how Team Anna was unaware of such a major development in the Indian bureaucracy. "We will have to explain it to Team Anna."

He further said that, as expected, the government Lokpal bill is very different from Jan Lokpal bill.

The Congress, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Bahujan Samaj Party have objected to the inclusion of Prime Minister's Office under Lokpal. The rest of the parties, including the Left, BJP, Janata Dal-United, Biju Janata Dal and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, insist that PM must be covered under Lokpal, but with some conditions.

On the last day of deliberations on Wednesday, committee chairman Abhishek Singhvi surprised the members when he said that the final report may not be given to them. He then requested members to give their dissent notes by early next week.

Last August, the Lok Sabha had passed a 'sense of House' resolution that included three demands. It was after this that Anna Hazare broke his fast at Ramlila Maidan.

The 'sense of the House' resolution moved by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on August 27 said: "This House agrees 'in principle' on following issues -- (i) citizens' charter, (ii) lower bureaucracy under Lokpal through an appropriate mechanism, and (iii) establishment of Lokayukta in the states."

However, the standing committee's report will not include the citizens' charter under Lokpal. The government has proposed that a separate law to address the issue of Citizens' Grievance Redress, as bringing it within the purview of the Lokpal Bill would make it too cumbersome.

The second demand of Team Anna will be fulfilled with inclusion of Class III employees, which constitutes more than 50 per cent of the Indian bureaucracy, under the Lokpal.

As far as the establishment of Lokyaukta in states is concerned, the BJP has a problem with the language of the committee's proposed draft on the subject.

The BJP has also made it clear the 'sense of the House' on the Lokpal Bill cannot be violated

Overall, a committee member summed up: "How can we accept the report when it is not adhering to 'sense of the House'?"  However, Congress party's members in the committee state that the 'sense of the House' was not binding on the committee.