Negotiations on draft Lokpal Bill

The negotiations on a draft Lokpal Bill on Monday gained momentum with Government and civil society members agreeing on a number of basic principles of the proposed law.Emerging from a three-hour meeting, Union Minister Kapil Sibal said, there was consensus on almost half of the 40 points brought to the table by the Anna Hazare's five-member team. He said, the discussion on the same would continue when the Joint Drafting Committee meets again on next Monday and the draft Lokpal Bill would be ready by June 30. Mr Sibal said there was complete agreement on the issue of the authority of Lokpal being independent without any interference from the government. The minister said that there was also an agreement in the meeting that the Lokpal will have power to look into any matter of corruption against public servants. Talking to media, prominent lawyer Prashant Bhushan said there was agreement on many issues raised by the civil society members and on some other issues the government had conveyed its in-principle acceptance but wanted more discussions on finer aspects. He said, with agreement on nearly 50 per cent of the basic principles, the Committee decided to direct the Legislative Department to begin drafting the Lokpal Bill. Media reports that Hazare's team presented a set of suggestions from some other civil society groups on the Lokpal Bill which also included recommendations of the public hearings on the issue held at various places across the country.