By IANS,
New Delhi: The union cabinet Tuesday night approved the much-awaited Lokpal bill, which brings the prime minister under the purview of the ombudsman with riders but excludes the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), official sources said.
The cabinet, which met in the parliament house under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the bill after a two-hour meeting.
Meanwhile, Anna Hazare rejected the bill calling it weak and alleging that the government’s intentions were suspect. Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal said the government had “cheated the people by excluding the CBI”.
Hazare said his agitational plan from Dec 27 will be on course.
A meeting of the Lok Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) will decide on Wednesday the date when the bill is to be introduced. There are two proposals – to discuss the Lokpal bill on Dec 22 and 23 or to discuss the bill during an extended period of the winter session Dec 27-29.
Some of the salient features of the Lokpal bill are:
– Prime minister to be under the Lokpal with safeguards
– CBI not to be under the Lokpal
– Lokpal not to have a investigative wing, but to have a prosecution wing of lawyers
– Lokpal to be a nine-member body with 50 percent reservation to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes.
– The Lokpal to be selected by a committee comprising the prime minister, the Lok Sabha speaker, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, an eminent jurist and the chief justice of India or his nominee.
– Lokpal to be a constitutional body