By IANS,
New Delhi: Stressing their demand for live telecast of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee’s meetings, panel co-chairperson Shanti Bhushan Tuesday asked his co-chair and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to explain why the government was opposed to it.
“We are really curious why the government is against the idea of telecasting live the proceedings of the committee. The people ought to know the reasons why there is a difference between your and our viewpoint,” Bhushan wrote in a letter to Mukherjee.
Bhushan said that the government’s claim that the telecast would prevent the members from freely expressing their opinion was not justified.
“The five civil society members do not have any hesitation in expressing their opinion freely if it were telecast. Why should government members have a problem in expressing their free opinion publicly,” he asked.
Meanwhile, he also asked for copies of the audio recordings of the proceedings so far.
“I would request you to kindly provide us with copies of the audio recordings of all the proceedings so far. As members of the committee, it seems to us that we have a right to have the copies of the same,” he said.