Kaushambi (Uttar Pradesh), Nov. 29 (ANI): Expressing disappointment with the government's version of the Lokpal Bill, social activist Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the anti-graft bill would be like an 'empty tin' if the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was not included under its ambit.
Kejriwal hit out at the Centre for not allowing the CBI to come under the purview of the Lokpal, as the premier investigating agency of the country was being used to mould the investigation in several cases in favour of the government.
"The government is not ready to free CBI from its clutches and if the government continues to have a control over the functioning of CBI then the entire Lokpal Bill will be like an empty tin without any powers and would just become a showpiece," he added.
Kejriwal said that the government should respect the resolution passed by the Parliament over the inclusion of lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal.
"As per the government's draft bill is concerned, we have come to know that they want to keep the lower bureaucracy out of the ambit of the Lokpal bill. When Anna Hazare had broken his fast in front of the whole country, then the sense of House was that the entire bureaucracy would be brought under the ambit of Lokpal bill," said Kejriwal.
"If you read the resolution of the sense of House, it is written that the House is ready to bring citizen's charter and lower bureaucracy under the ambit of the Lokpal bill. If the resolution was so clear then we believe that it would be accepted and respected," he added.
Kejriwal further said Group C and D employees were responsible for the rampant corruption in the country, and added that if 95 percent of government officers were not brought within the ambit of the anti-graft bill then it would not help in complete eradication of corruption.
"We have made a calculation that about 95 percent of the government officers of the country would be kept beyond the ambit of Lokpal Bill. The country should pay attention towards the kind of anti- corruption system the government is trying to bring," he added.
Kejriwal said that there was a need to bring another set of law in order to curb the rampant corruption in NGOs and media houses.
"We are aware and even support that there is rampant corruption in NGOs and media, but in order to curb the corrupt practices we need another set of laws and we are ready in the exercise of strengthening those laws," he said.
Team Anna has stepped up pressure on the ruling Congress Party to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill during the upcoming Winter Session of the Parliament.
Veteran social activist Anna Hazare had earlier on Monday threatened to fast again in case the government fails to pass an effective Lokpal Bill in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.
The Jan Lokpal Bill is seen as a weapon to root out corruption and nepotism from the government machinery and in public life.
The proposed Bill envisages the setting up of a national anti-corruption watchdog to check financial mismanagement and corrupt practices that have deeply pervaded several democratic and civic institutions of India.
74-year-old Hazare had staged an indefinite hunger strike against graft that he gave up on the 13th day on August 28 when the government agreed to deliberate the issues raised by him and his forum vis-a-vis the passage and enactment of the Lokpal Bill, a suggestion that has received unprecedented nationwide backing. (ANI)
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