janlokpal v/s government lokpal

JAN LOKPAL

GOVT. LOKPAL

V/s

Accountability of the Lokpal

So according to government’s draft, if government appoints a

corrupt person as the Lokpal, then people have no way of

seeking the removal of such a Lokpal. But in case of Jan Lokpal, I

or you can go to the court and demand that the Lokpal be

removed if we are able to provide justification for that removal.

Jan Lokpal: Any Citizen can

go and complaint to Supreme

Court to remove a Lokpal if

the Lokpal is not found to be

accountable in his/her actions

Government Lokpal: Only

Government has the power to

remove a Lokpal.

Corruption allegations against Lokpal Members

Jan Lokpal: Complaints of

corruption against Lokpal

members will be heard by an

independent authority.

Government Lokpal: Lokpal

itself will hear complaints of

corruption against its

members!

Which is more accountable? Lokpal hearing complaints

against its own members? Or an independent authority acting

on these complaints?

Probe corruption allegations against MPs in Parliament

Jan Lokpal: Lokpal will have

the power to probe into

allegations of corruption by

Members in Parliament like

MPs taking bribe to vote!

(Remember the Cash for Votes

Scandal? )


will not have any right to

probe into allegations of

corruption by MPs in the

Parliament!

Complaints against Government Officers, Public Servants

Jan Lokpal: Lokpal can act on

complaints against ANY

government officer. Government Lokpal: Lokpal

can act on complaints against

only “Group A” level

government officers.

• There are around 80 lakh state government officials

and 40 lakh central government officials in the country.

• Of which only 65000 are Group A level officers. So

according to government’s draft Lokpal or no Lokpal it

makes no difference to over 99.995% of the

government officers!

• The fact is that it is these officers below Group A level

who actually cause problems to the common man.

• If common man cannot complain to Lokpal about

problems like corruption in the Public Distribution

System, corruption in his local RTO, corruption in rural

employment scemes etc, then what is the use of such a

Lokpal? .

Complaints against Government Officers, Public Servants

Action against government officers

Jan Lokpal: If a government

officer delays the work of a

citizen beyond scheduled

time frame then he will be

deemed corrupt by Lokpal

and penalized for that.

Government Lokpal: There

is no penalization of

government officers who do

not do their duties.

The Government had earlier agreed to the proposal in Jan Lokpal on this issue. But this again is missing from the

government’s Lokpal draft .

Corruption allegation against Judiciary


the authority to investigate

allegations of corruption

against judges. Government Lokpal: Lokpal

will NOT have the authority to

investigate allegations of

corruption against judges .

• Government wants judiciary to be investigated based on a

separate Judicial Accountability Bill (JAB).

• Anna’s team is fine with that provided the flaws in giving

permission for investigations against judges are removed.

• In the JAB, permission to investigate allegations against a

judge will be given by a three member judge team, two of

whom will be judges from the same court, and even the third

judge will be a retired chief justice of the same court! .

Corruption allegation against Judiciary

Corruption allegations against Prime Minister


the authority to investigate


against the Prime Minister.

Government Lokpal:

Lokpal will NOT have the

authority to investigate


against the Prime Minister.

Government wants CBI to investigate any allegations of

corruption against the Prime Minister. But the fact is that the

CBI comes directly under the Prime Minister. So, unlike Lokpal,

CBI is not an independent organization in this scenario.

Anti Corruption Branch of CBI

Jan Lokpal: The Anti

Corruption Branch of CBI will

be merged with Lokpal to give

it more independence.

Government Lokpal: The

Anti Corruption Branch of CBI

will continue to remain with

CBI, which means direct

government control over it,

because CBI is controlled by

government.

Government has now even removed CBI from RTI! So nobody knows what is going on within CBI.

Dismissal of Corrupt Public Servant


the power to dismiss a corrupt

public servant from job.

Government Lokpal:

Lokpal will have no power to

dismiss a corrupt public

servant. The concerned

minister will decide whether

to dismiss a corrupt public

servant or not.

What if the minister is also a beneficiary of this corruption? Will he in such a case dismiss the corrupt public servant?

Protection against false complaints

Jan Lokpal: Lokpal will impose

fine to those who make false

complaints or ill motivated

complaints. Lokpal will decide

whether a complaint is false or

not.


will send those who make

false complaints to jail for a

period of two to five years!

The accused can also go to

court against the complainant,

and in this case, the legal

expenses of the accused will

be borne by the government,

where as the complainant has

to pay for the legal expenses

from his own pocket.

• This one clause in the government’s draft is enough to ensure that nobody will dare to go and complain to Lokpal.

• If the corrupt who are also generally rich, are able to mute all evidences against them, then the person who complained will have to go to jail, do trips to courts, bear his legal expenses and what not.

• While the minimum imprisonment for a false complaint is two years in the government’s draft, the minimum imprisonment for those found guilty of corruption is only 6 months!

• The government’s draft clearly targets the complainant than the accused. .

Protection against false complaints

Selection of the Lokpal Members Jan Lokpal

• An independent search committee which consists of retired constitutional authorities (like judges, eminent IAS officers etc.) will prepare the first list of eligible candidates.

• Then an independent selection committee comprising of two politicians, four judges and two retired constitutional authorities will do the selection.

• So there is no scope for government interference in the selection process of Lokpal members here.

Government Lokpal

• A Panel of 10 members, 6 of whom are politicians, 5 of whom are from the ruling alliance/ruling party will select the Lokpal members.

• Even the search committee which searches for eligible lokpal members will be selected by the above mentioned selection committee.

• 5 members from ruling alliance and totally 6 politicians in a group of 10 will ensure that government will be able to appoint its own people to Lokpal!

The Government had earlier agreed to the selection committee

proposed by Jan Lokpal. But this proposal is not there in the

government’s draft now! Instead we have what is described above

in Government’s version..

Selection of the Lokpal Members

Permission to Tap Phones of those alleged of Corruption

Jan Lokpal: Lokpal will give

permission to tap phones of

people suspected to be

involved in corruption.

Government Lokpal: Home

Secretary will give permission

to tap phones of

people suspected to be

involved in corruption!

• What if the permission sought is against those who control the Home Secretariat?

• Is it fair to expect that the Home Secretary will give permission in such cases?

• What if Home Secretary himself is under the Lokpal scanner?

Corruption by Business Entities

Jan Lokpal: If Lokpal finds

that business entities are

involved in corruption, then

Lokpal will have the right to

ban such companies from

taking part in future

government contracts and to

black list them.

Government Lokpal: No

power to Lokpal to black list

any business entity found

guilty of corruption.

Fast Track Hearing of Corruption Cases

Jan Lokpal: Lokpal can setup

special benches in High Courts

to speed up hearing of

corruption cases.


has no power to setup special

benches like this. Which

means slow hearing of

corruption cases.

Justice delayed is justice denied .

Protection to complainants, whistle blowers

Jan Lokpal: Lokpal will provide

adequate protection and

security to complainants and

whistle blowers .


mention about any

protection to those who

complaint about cases of

corruption.

Establishment of Lokayuktas

Jan Lokpal: There will also be

Lokayuktas established at each

state level with powers similar

to Lokpal. These Lokayuktas

will probe into corruption at a

state government level against

ministers, MLAs and state

government officials.


establishment of any

Lokayuktas through Lokpal

Bill.

If people have any issue of corruption at a state government level, then according to the Government’s Lokpal bill – forget

it.

Method of Enquiry

Jan Lokpal

• Enquiry will be done just like

in any other criminal case.

• After preliminary enquiry FIR

will be registered, and after

that investigations will be

done, and then the trial will

be held in the courts.

Government Lokpal

• After preliminary enquiry, before filing FIR all evidence collected so far should be presented to the accused, and he should be asked why an FIR should not be filed against him based on that evidence!

• After investigations, before filing a case against the accused, again all evidences collected so far should be presented to the accused, and he should be asked again as to why a case should not be filed against him!

• Now what on earth is this business of showing the evidence to the accused and asking him?

• Evidences are shown to the courts not to the accused.

• Does the government want to give an opportunity to the accused to wipe out all evidences?

• This would also reveal to the accused as to who complained against him, endangering the lives of the complainants and whistle blowers.

Method of Enquiry

Conclusion • In summary, looking at the government’s version of the Lokpal

bill, doesn’t it look like that the government wants to simply pass a bill for the namesake of it and wash its hands off from the entire issue?

• After 45 years of waiting, the government simply wants to create an illusion that it has passed an anti-corruption law.

• Do we really need another dummy institution at the tax payer’s expense?Just look at the government’s draft once again and you will wonder, who actually comes UNDER the jurisdiction of Lokpal according to the government’s lokpal draft.

• No Prime Minister, no MPs, no judiciary, no state level Lokayuktas, no government officers other than “Group A” officers….Arving Kejriwal has rightly called the government’s draft – A Jokepal Bill. It not only has loopholes in it, it is full of potholes.

• Now you decide whether we want the government’s version of Lokpal or the Team Anna’s Jan Lokpal to become a law in this country. .

Below is a quick summary of the major differences between the

drafts of Jan Lokpal Bill proposed by the anti-corruption

movement led by Anna Hazare, and the government’s version

of the Lokpal Bill. The summary will also make one quickly

realize that

• The Government’s Lokpal version gives less power to

Lokpal, but at the same time gives it more immunity from

any action against the institution itself.

• The Jan Lokpal version gives more power to Lokpal but less

immunity if its own actions are found unaccountable.

janlokpal v/s government lokpal

News & Politics

Transcript of janlokpal v/s government lokpal