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The word Lokpal means an ombudsman in India. The word has been

derived from the Sanskrit words "loka" (people) and "pala" (protector/

caretaker). So the word Lokpal means 'protector of people'. The con-

cept of Lokpal has been drawn up to root out corruption at all levels in

the prevailing Indian polity.

The Lokpal will be a three-member body with a chairperson who is or

was a chief justice or Supreme Court judge, and two members who are

or have been high courts judges or chief justices.Implementation of

the Lokpal bill will hopefully reduce corruption in India. The basic

idea of the Lok Pal is borrowed from the office of ombudsman, which

has played an effective role in checking corruption and wrong-doing in Scandinavian and other nations.

In early 1960s, mounting corruption in public administration set the winds blowing in favour of an

Ombudsman in India too.

The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) set up in 1966 recommended the constitution of a

two-tier machinery - of a Lokpal at the Centre, and Lokayukta(s) in the states.the Lokpal has to com-

plete the inquiry within six months.

Duties of Lokpal are as follows:

1. To judge the cases and make jurisdictions against corruption cases with the Lokpal.

2. To judge whether a case is legal or whether a fake complaint has been made.

3. To potentially impose fines on a fake complaint, or even a short span of jail time, if the case is not

proved to be legally true.

In India, the Jan Lokpal Bill (also referred to as the citizens' ombudsman bill) is a proposed anti-

corruption law designed to effectively deter corruption, redress grievances and protect whistleblowers.

The law would create an ombudsman called the Lokpal; this would be an independent body similar to

the Election Commission of India with the power to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without prior

government permission.

A compromise bill, merging the Government's version and that of the civil group's version (Jan Lokpal),

is being drafted by a committee of five Cabinet Ministers and five social activists. As of July 2011, the

most current version of the bill is version 2.3, according to the government website. For 42 years, the

government-drafted bill has failed to pass the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.The

first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, in 1969 but stalled

in the Rajya Sabha. Subsequent Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998,

2001, 2005 and 2008 but all failed to pass.

LOKPAL B ILL
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Latest Developments

Anna Hazare, a Gandhian rights activist, had

started a fast unto death at Jantar Mantar in New

Delhi demanding the passing of the bill. Hazare

called off his hunger strike on the 9th of April,2011 bringing to an end his 98-hour protest after

the government issued a gazette notification con-

stituting a 10-member Joint Committee of govern-

ment ministers and civil society activists, includ-

ing him, to draft a bill for the creation of an effec-

tive Lokpal.

Drafting Committee

The drafting committee was officially formed on8 April 2011. It consists of ten members, includ-

ing five from the government and five drawn from

society.

Chairmen

The Government of India accepted that the com-

mittee be co-chaired by a politician and an activ-

ist, non-politician. It is reported that Pranab

Mukherjee, from the political arena, and Shanti

Bhushan, from civil society, will fill those roles.

Government representation (Five Cabinet min-

isters )They are:

Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister, Co-Chair-man;

P. Chidambaram, Minister of Home Affairs; Veerappa Moily, Minister of Law and Justice; Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications andInformation Technology; and

Salman Khursid, Minister of Water Resources.

Civil society representation (Five leading social

activists). They are:

Shanti Bhushan, Former Minister of Law andJustice, Co-Chairman;

Anna Hazare, Social Activist; Prashant Bhushan, Lawyer;

N. Santosh Hegde, Lokayukta (Karnataka); and Arvind Kejriwal.

Thousands of people from all over India, especially

the youth, supported Anna Hazare's cause by candle

light marches and online campaigns through so-

cial media.Recently Yoga guru, Swami Ramdev,was on a fast for this cause for 9 consecutive days

from 4 June - 12 June 2011. He wanted the Gov-

ernment of India to accept various demands which

mainly included those related to the Lokpall

bill.Anna Hazare on the 8th of June, 2011, declared

that he will restart his fast unto death on the 16th

of August if the Lokpal bill is not passed by the

Parliament of India by 15 August, which is the

Inependence Day of India.On the 16th of June, the

civil society reported that only 15 points of total

71 that they recommended have been agreed to bythe Joint Committee consisting of five central min-

isters. Following differences with the Civil Soci-

ety, the team of five central ministers decided to

forward two drafts of the Lokpal Bill to the Cabi-

net, one from each side.

The Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's ombudsman Bill)

is a draft anti-corruption bill drawn up by promi-

nent civil society activists seeking the appointment

of a Jan Lokpal, an independent body that would

investigate corruption cases, complete the inves-

tigation within a year and envisages trial in the

case getting over in the next one year. Drafted by

Justice Santosh Hegde (former Supreme Court

Judge and present Lokayukta of Karnataka),

Prashant Bhushan (Supreme Court Lawyer) and

Arvind Kejriwal (RTI activist), the draft Bill en-

visages a system where a corrupt person found

guilty would go to jail within two years of the com-

plaint being made and his ill-gotten wealth being

confiscated. It also seeks power to the Jan Lokpalto prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without

government permission.

Salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill:

1. An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and

LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up.

2. Like Supreme Court and Election Commission,


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they will be completely independent of the gov-

ernments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able

to influence their investigations.

3. Cases against corrupt people will not linger on

for years anymore: Investigations in any case will

have to be completed in one year. Trial should be

completed in next one year so that the corrupt poli-

tician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two

years.

4. The loss that a corrupt person caused to the gov-

ernment will be recovered at the time of

conviction.

5. How will it help a common citizen: If any work

of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any

government office, Lokpal will impose financialpenalty on guilty officers, which will be given as

compensation to the complainant.

6. So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration

card or passport or voter card is not being made

or if police is not registering your case or any other

work is not being done in prescribed time.

Lokpal will have to get it done in a month's time.

You could also report any case of corruption to

Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor qual-

ity roads been constructed or panchayat funds be-

ing siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its

investigations in a year, trial will be over in next

one year and the guilty will go to jail within two

years.

7. But won't the government appoint corrupt and

weak people as Lokpal members? That won't be

possible because its members will be selected by

judges, citizens and constitutional authorities andnot by politicians, through a completely transpar-

ent and participatory process.

8. What if some officer in Lokpal becomes cor-

rupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta

will be completely transparent. Any complaint

against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated

and the officer dismissed within two months.

9. What will happen to existing anti-corruption

agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-

corruption branch of CBI will be merged into

Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and

machinery to independently investigate and pros-

ecute any officer, judge or politician.

10. It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide

protection to those who are being victimized for

raising their voice against corruption.

Some people have opined that the Jan Lokpal Bill

is 'Nave' in its approach to combating corruption.

The Lokpal concept was criticized by the Human

Resource Development (HRD) minister Kapil

Sibal because of concerns that it will lack account-

ability, oppresively, and undemocratically.Theclaim that the Lokpal will be an extra-constitu-

tional body has been derided by Hazares closest

lieutenant, Arvind Kejriwal. He states the Jan

Lokpal Bill drafted by civil society will only in-

vestigate corruption offences and submit a charge

sheet which would then tried and prosecuted,

through trial courts and higher courts. Kejriwal

further states that the proposed bill also lists clear

provisions in which the Supreme Court can abol-

ish the Lokpal.Although Kejriwal has stated that

all prosecutions will be carried out through trial

courts, the exact judicial powers of LokPal is rather

unclear in comparison with its investigative pow-

ers.

The bill requires "...members of Lokpal and the

officers in investigation wing of Lokpal shall be

deemed to be police officers". Although some sup-

porters have denied any judicial powers of

Lokpal,the government and some critics have rec-

ognized Lokpal to have quasi-judicial powers.Thebill states that "Lokpal shall have, and exercise the

same jurisdiction powers and authority in respect

of contempt of itself as a High court has and may

exercise, and, for this purpose, the provisions of

the Contempt of ourts Act, 1971 (Central Act 70

of 1971) shall have the effect subject to the modi-

fication that the ref rences therein to the High Court

shall be construed as including a reference to the

Lokpal." Review of proceedings and decisions by


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Lokpal is prevented in the bill, stating "...no proceedings or decision of the Lokpal shall be liable to be

challenged, reviewed, quashed or called in question in any court of ordinary Civil Jurisdiction." With-

out judicial review, there is concern that Lokpal could become a extra-constitutional body with inves-

tigative and judicial powers whose decisions cannot be reviewed in regular courts.

Whether or not to include the Prime Minister and higher judiciary under the Lokpal remains as one of

the major issues of dispute. Although Hazare proposed Justice Verma, the former Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court, as the Chairman of the Lokpal Bill panel,Justice Verma later expressed his constitu-

tional objections for including the Prime Minister and higher judiciary under Lokpal, stating "this

would foul with the basic structure of the constitution".

India is a country where honesty and integrity in public and private life have been glorified andupheldin great epics such as the Vedas, Upanishads and in the books and practices of everyreligion practiced

here.Yet, India today is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.Bringing public servants under a

scanner which makes them strictly accountable is the start of amovement against corruption in India.

And one significant step in attacking the spectre ofcorruption in India will be the implementation of the

lok pal bill.

In the regular dispensation of government there are implicit and explicit ways that citizens canvoice

their grievances and demand change. But these are often difficult. Within administrative departments,

for example, any decision of one official can be appealed to a higher official, all the way up to the head

Lokpal will have no power to initiate suo motuaction or receive complaints of corruption fromthe general public. It can only probe.

Complaints forwarded by the Speaker of theLok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Lokpal will only be an Advisory Body with arole limited to forwarding reports to a "Compe-

tent Authority".

Lokpal will have no police powers and no abil-ity to register an First Information Report or pro-

ceed with criminal investigations.

The CBI and Lokpal will be unconnected.

Punishment for corruption will be a minimumof 6 months and a maximum of up to 7 years.

Lokpal will have powers to initiate suomoto action or receive complaints of corrup-tion from the general public.

Lokpal will have the power to initiateprosecution of anyone found guilty.

Lokpal will have police powers as well asthe ability to register FIRs.

Lokpal and the anti corruption wing of theCBI will be one independent body.

Punishments will be a minimum of 5 yearsand a maximum of up to life imprisonment.

Jan Lokp al Bill

(Citizen's Ombudsman Bill)Draft Lokp al Bill (2010)

Differenc e Between Draft Lokpal Bill 2010 and Jan Lokpal Bill


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of a department. However, this mechanism has inherent flaws.But it can be said that Lokpal is the need

of the hour and it will have to be implemented first ,then only we can decide whether it is fruitful or not.

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