Govt's reply to Team Anna; Cabinet clears anti-graft bills

New Delhi, Dec 13: A Cabinet meet on Tuesday, Dec 13 passed three major anti-corruption bills, citizen's charter bill, judicial accountability bill and whistleblower's bill. The decision on food security bill, which is termed as Congress President Sonia Gandhi's pet project, however, has been deferred to next week.

Now, the three passed bills will be taken to the parliament.

The government, sticking firm to its stance that Lokpal itself is not enough to tackle corruption, to put a compressive system in place, has passed three bills as it addressed anti-corruption crusaders demands.

Earlier, Hazare had asked to include judges and Citizen's Charter under Lokpal bill.

Senior judges will, now, come under the ambit of Citizen's Charter bill. According to judicial accountability bill, it is mandatory for government offices to post a notice that conveys the time frame to redeem a service by government officers, including, the penalty for the functionaries who fail to meet the deadline.

Meanwhile, the other bill will provide adequate security for whistleblowers.

According to reports, the Cabinet have also agreed to bring Prime Minister within the Lokpal ambit, with safeguards. Thus PM could be probed by CBI for corruption charges.

Citing team Anna's cry over investigating authority, Cabinet has nodded to attach a CBI wing to Lokpal. After completing the investigation on corruption charges against government officers, CBI will report to the Lokpal.

To the team Anna's surprise, it had also agreed to haul lower bureaucracy (Group C employees) under Lokpal purview.

The passing of this three anti-corruption bills had cut down the bureaucracy of Lokpal to some extent, thus this move may help the anti-corruption mechanism to deliver service without dragging the issue.

Now, will there be any reason for Anna Hazare to fast on Dec 27?

OneIndia News