Jan Lokpal bill of India has become a bone of contention between Anna Hazare group and Indian government. Finally, after lots of protest and anti corruption movement, Indian government finally decided to bring a law in this regard.
However, Anna group is not convinced with the law suggested by the government and has been adamant to get its own bill introduced in the Parliament.
In this tussle between both these groups, very few have appreciated that it is not the law that is enough but an effective, strong and robust anti corruption law that alone would serve the purpose.
Unfortunately, both the versions of Jan Lokpal Bills are not adequate to cover all the aspects of anti corruption movement in India. Experts like Praveen Dalal, a Supreme Court lawyer and leading techno legal specialist of India, have opined that the proposed Jan Lokpal Bills are not strong and effective to deal with the deep rooted problem of corruption in India.
So what are the aspects that have been missed by both the parties regarding a strong and effective Jan Lokpal Bill of India? According to Praveen Dalal, if Jan Lokpal Act 2011 of India has to be successful it must incorporate many more issues like Technology, Whistleblower Protection, Harmonisation between Judicial and Lokpal fields, Right to Information, Mandatory E-Governance Services, etc. These issues are very relevant to make Lokpal law effective, flexible and robust. Unfortunately, none of these issues are covered by either version of the Bill or independently by a separate anti corruption law.
The Jan Lokpal Bill 2011 itself requires numerous “Improvements and Additions” suggests Dalal. The Jan Lokpal Bill 2011 must be Techno Legal to be most successful. In short, the proposed Jan Lokpal Bill 2011 must be Strong and Effective. By confining it to either the Governmental version or the version of Civil Activists, we are not going to achieve anything, suggests Dalal.
We do not need a Code that contains Ineffective and Weak Provisions. On the contrary, we need a “Holistic Law” in this regard that covers all the aspects of Anti Corruption in India, suggests Dalal.
