Lok Pal Bill: JDC Constituted

The Union government on Saturday issued a notification announcing the constitution of a Joint Drafting Committee (JDC) to prepare a draft of the Lok Pal Bill.

The JDC will consist of 5 nominee union ministers and 5 nominees named by Anna Hazare (including himself).

According to an official statement, the 5 nominee ministers of the Government Of India are Union Minister Of Finance, Pranab Mukherjee; Union Minister Of Home Affairs, P Chidambaram; Union Minister Of Law And Justice, Veerappa Moily; Union Minister Of Human Resource & Development and Communication & Information Technology, Kapil Sibal; and Union Minister Of Water Resources and Minister Of Minority Affairs, Salman Khursheed.

The 5 members from the civil society include Anna Hazare, Justice N Santosh Hedge, senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, advocate Prashan Bhushan and advocate Arvind Kejriwal.

The Chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee would be Pranab Mukherjee, the Co-Chairperson would be Shanti Bhushan and the Convenor would be M Veerappa Moily.

The notification said that the JDC will commence its work forthwith, and evolve its own procedure to prepare the proposed legislation. The JDC will complete its work by June 30th, 2011, the notification added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stated that the agreement to combat corruption augurs well for democracy.

In a statement, the Prime Minister said, "I am happy that the government and representatives of the civil society have reached an agreement in the mutual resolve to combat corruption. This is a scourge that confronts all of us. The government intends to introduce the Lok Pal Bill in Parliament during the monsoon session."

"I am pleased that Anna Hazare has agreed to give up his fast," he added, and further said, "The interaction between the government and the representatives of Anna Hazareji was productive. I hope that the process of preparing this legislation will move forward in a constructive mode, so that the legislation is placed before the Cabinet for introduction during the monsoon session." (INN)