PM should come under Lokpal's scanner: Supreme Court judge

New Delhi, Aug 6: A sitting Supreme Court judge on Friday, Aug 5 supported the inclusion of the Prime Minister's Office within the ambit of Lokpal Bill tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

"As a student of law, I see no substance in the debate that the Prime Minister should be outside the (Lokpal) Bill. A public office of such importance cannot shy away from public scrutiny," Justice A K Ganguly said.

The judge was addressing a gathering here on the occasion of the release of a book ''Corruption and Human Rights in India'', authored by Professor C Raj Kumar, the Vice Chancellor of O P Jindal Global University.

Pointing out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had himself expressed his willingness to bring the PMO under the Lokpal's scanner, Justice Ganguly said "more efforts to keep the PM out will add to the suspicion among people."

In his address, Justice Ganguly also criticised the Prevention of Corruption Act, which stipulates sanction by competent authorities before prosecuting any government servant, bureaucrat or politician on charges of corruption.

"The Prevention of Corruption Act, to my mind, is preservation of corruption act. It has a mechanism to protect the corrupt. Without the sanction, the corrupt cannot be prosecuted. Who is to give you the sanction? They (corrupt) do not act individually and they work in a organised way," he said.

Justice Ganguly is also the part of a two-judge bench which had heard a petition by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking guidelines for the grant of sanctions to prosecute those occupying public offices on the charge of corruption and has reserved its order on the plea.

PTI