After staging a two-day protest at Railway Bhavan seeking the suspension of four Delhi Police officers and demanding control over the city police force a fortnight ago, the AAP Government on Monday approved the Delhi lokpal Bill, 2014.
The Bill covers all public representatives, including Chief Minister, MlAs, councillors, all employees of the State Government, all IAS officials working with the Delhi Government, DDA staff and Delhi Police personnel within its ambit. However, several clauses of the Bill could cause a fresh disagreement between the Centre and the Delhi Government.
Soon after clearing the Bill, Kejriwal tweeted: “Congratulations. The Delhi Jan lokpal Bill passed by the Delhi Cabinet”. A special session of the Assembly will be convened at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on February 16 to convert the Bill into a law.
Interestingly, the Bill was passed by the Cabinet despite strong reservations by law, Home, Vigilance, Finance and Planning departments which claimed that investigation, prosecution and judicial powers cannot be vested in the same person. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Council of Ministers overruled their observations.
Presently, both the Delhi Police and DDA report to the lieutenant-Governor. The three municipal corporations and the NDMC have their own elected councils. Fearing that anyone will “trap” them, bureaucratic heads of all the Delhi Government departments have raised strong objections to the Delhi lokpal Bill draft and many of them expressed their desire to leave the State Government as the AAP Government has no faith in bureaucrats.
The Bill provides for time-bound investigation and trial of corruption cases. The lokpal will have the power to initiate an investigation on its own (suo motu) or on a complaint from an individual. The punishment in cases of corruption will range from six months to 10 years in jail and life imprisonment in the rarest of rare cases. If a beneficiary of an offence is a business entity, in addition to the corporal punishment provided under the law, the guilty will have to pay a fine up to five times the loss caused to the public exchequer.
The lokpal institution will have a chairperson and 10 members. At least one-third of the members should have extensive outstanding knowledge of law. The lokpal chairperson and members will be selected by a panel comprising the Chief Minister, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, two judges of the Delhi High Court selected in a full court meeting, previous lokayukta and two eminent citizens to be selected by other members of the selection committee. The tenure of chairperson and members will be seven years.
PWD Minister Manish Sisodia said no provision for any “special privileges” for even the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers had been proposed in the Bill. “People were waiting for a strong law that would punish the corrupt. Their long wait has ended. Today is a historic day for Delhi,” he said.
Unlike the Uttarakhand’s lokpal law, on which this lokpal Bill is modelled, complaints against the Chief Minister will not be heard by the full bench of the lokpal but will be treated on par with other complaints, the Minister said. The Delhi Government has to get clearance from the Union Home Ministry before tabling any Bill in the Assembly. Incidentally, the present Bill stands in stark contradiction to the provisions of IPC, CrPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.