Delhi Government has set up a high-level committee to prepare a draft of Jan lokpal Bill and submit it by January 15. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced that the Government has set up a high-level committee under the chief secretary.
“The committee comprises Principal Secretaries from urban development, finance, home and law departments and advocate Rahul Mehra. They will submit their draft proposal by January 15. Most likely we will bring the Jan lokpal Bill by last week,” Kejriwal said. Mehra is one of the founding members of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Sources said that a draft of the Jan lokpal Bill (Citizen’s Ombudsman Bill) prepared by civil society is ready that would investigate corruption cases, complete the investigation 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 former lokayukta of Karnataka), Prashant Bhushan (Supreme Court lawyer) and Arvind Kejriwal (RTI activist), the draft Bill envisages a system where a corrupt person found guilty would go to jail within two years of the complaint being made and his ill-gotten wealth being confiscated.
It also seeks power to the Jan lokpal to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without Government permission. As per draft, like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the Governments. No Minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.