Parliament Diary

PRS Parliament Diary
Winter Session
of Parliament
December 17, 2013

The Rajya Sabha
passed The Lokpal and
Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 today. The Bill
provides for establishment of the Lokpal at the centre and Lokayuktas in the
states for inquiring into complaints of corruption against certain public
servants.
 
This is the first Bill to be passed in the
ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament.
 
The Bill has to now go back to the Lok Sabha for
its approval. Once passed by the Lok Sabha, the Bill will need the President's
approval before becoming a law.
 
The main provisions of The Lokpal and Lokayukta
Bill, as passed by the Rajya Sabha today, are listed below.
 
Lokayuktas:

·  
States to set
up Lokayuktas by a law within 365 days. States have the freedom to determine
the nature and type of Lokayukta. 

Penalty:

·  
False and
frivolous complaints - imprisonment upto one year and a fine of upto one lakh
rupees.

·  
Public
servants- imprisonment upto seven years. 

·  
Criminal
misconduct and habitually abetting corruption- jail term upto ten years.

Jurisdiction:    

·  
The Prime
Minister, Ministers, Current and former MPs and MLAs, Government Employees,
Employees of Companies funded or controlled by the Central Government.

·  
Societies and
trusts that collect public money, receive funding from foreign sources, and
have an income level above a certain threshold.

·  
Excluded:
Bodies creating endowments for or performing religious or charitable functions
are excluded from the purview of the Lokpal. 

Investigation:

·  
Inquiry to be
completed within 60 days and investigation to be completed within 6 months.

·  
Lokpal shall
order an investigation only after hearing the public servant.

·  
Inquiry against
the PM has to be held in-camera and approved by 2/3rd of the full bench of the
Lokpal. 

CBI:     

·  
Lokpal to have
superintendence over CBI in relation to Lokpal referred cases.

·  
CBI officers
investigating cases referred by the Lokpal can be transferred without the
approval of the Lokpal.

Prosecution:

·  
Lokpal can
initiate prosecution through its Prosecution Wing before the Special Court.
 Trial to be completed within two years.  

Funding

·  
All expenses to
be charged to the Consolidated Fund of India (Funds available to the Lokpal
will not be dependent on the annual budget voted by Lok Sabha). 

The Lok
Sabha was unable to function again due to ruckus created on Telangana, the
demand for the removal of Justice AK Ganguly from the post of Chairman of West
Bengal Human Rights Commission and the repeated incursions by China into Indian
Territory.

Three days are left for the Winter Session to
conclude.