Counterview: A few arguments against Hazare

 

Counterview: A few arguments against Hazare




Even though the UPA government has found itself red-faced several times over in the last year as scams came crawling out of the woodwork, there are elements to Anna Hazare's fight against corruption that critics are taking with handfuls of salt.
Gandhian Anna Hazare's fight against corruption has come under fire from critics
Gandhian Anna Hazare's fight against corruption has come under fire from critics
On the second day of Hazare's fast, one of the members of the committee that drafted the activists' version of the Bill himself came forward to declare that he objected to certain clauses. Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde (retd) was quoted saying, "While I say that the government's Lokpal Bill is of no use, I am not completely with the Jan Lokpal Bill, too, although it's much better."

We present some of the hotly contested clauses of the Lokpal bill that is creating such a furore:

1. The selection of the Jan Lokpal

The activists' draft calls for a motely group of people to make up the Jan Lokpal though critics have questioned why 'Nobel laureates of Indian origin' (who are part of the recommended list of nominees) should have a say in the matters of country they no longer belong to.

2. The setting up of a Lokpal fund
Why a clause should exist in the Bill that this fund should be set up, is being pointed out by critics as a straight road to corruption and misappropriation by the Lokpal members themselves

3. The exoneration from all charges
Clause 27(2) reads, 'No proceedings of the Lokpal shall be held to be bad for want of form and except on the ground of jurisdiction, no proceedings or decision of the Lokpal shall be liable to be challenged, reviewed, quashed or called in question in any court of ordinary Civil Jurisdiction'. The same section says that all members will receive 'good faith immunity'. But critics point out that human beings being human, what will happen when members stop acting in the public's 'good faith' and they are above being questioned by all, even the Supreme Court?

4. The absolute power it assumes
The Lokpal bill requires that the Central Vigilance Commission and the CBI's anti-corruption unit be scrapped and the powers with these bodies be awarded to itself. It also assumes the powers of the police (Section 12) and even a trial court (Section 10.2). Critics say assuming these many responsibilities may lead to problems of its own, since the powers of present day authorities would be entirely superseeded by the Lokpal itself

5. The threat to anti-development

Critics like former Solicitor General Harish Salve call the bill could be extremely rigid and work against development if implemented. He argues that the body, if it comes to power, could shoot down any project proposed on grounds of complaints from the public. Are we ready therefore, to go back to an autocratic society with the Lokpal in charge? Critics say they hope not.

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