By IANS,
New Delhi : Social activist Anna Hazare will continue with his decision to go on an indefinite fast from April 5 for a strong Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill as the government has refused to include the views of civil society on the legislation, an NGO said Monday.
The India Against Corruption (IAC) NGO that includes several eminent activists including Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh, and several others, said no conclusion was reached after a meeting with members of the sub-committee on the Lokpal Bill headed by by Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
“The much anticipated sub-committee meeting on Lokpal Bill failed to yield any positive results with the government showing no intention of forming a joint committee,” IAC said in a statement released here.
The sub-committee which was formed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh March 8 also has Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy as members.
Swamy Agnivesh, Justice D.S. Tewatia, Sunita Godara and Devinder Sharma attended the meeting on behalf of IAC.
The group was demanding the formation of a joint committee consisting of equal number of representatives from civil society and the government to discuss the bill.
“The sub-committee, on the other hand, while requesting Annaji (Hazare) to withdraw the fast, said that the sub-committee does not have any powers to take a decision on the formation of a joint committee,” the release said.
Hazare Feb 26 announced he would go on an indefinite fast if the government did not include civil society in formulation of the anti-graft Lokpal Bill by April 4.
Accusing the government of laxity, Swami Agnivesh said: “Lokpal Bill has been introduced many times in parliament since 1968 but could never be passed.”
“This shows the strong resistance any kind of anti-corruption mechanism which would subject the wrongdoings of politicians to an independent and objective scrutiny faces,” he claimed.
IAC had earlier opposed the constitution of the sub-committee. “How can we expect a group of ministers, whose interests would be directly and adversely affected by the enactment of a strong anti-corruption law, be solely entrusted with the job of drafting such a law,” the statement said.
“This very group of ministers had drafted the latest version of government’s Lokpal Bill, which appears to be meant to protect the corrupt rather than punish them,” it alleged.