‘AAP’s Lokpal is a Jokepal’

Prashant Bhushan, former senior member of the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday slammed the Delhi government’s proposed Lokpal bill, terming it as a “Jokepal”. He said that the proposed Janlokpal Bill, 2015 is a “cheating” with the people of Delhi and the anti-corruption movement. In the present bill, the appointment and removal of the Lokpal will be done by the government, unlike an independent committee as promised during the Janlokpal movement.

Bhushan alleged that the bill is “deliberately” designed so that it gets stalled by the Central government and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal can claim that the Central government is obstructing it. The new version of the bill includes the Central government ministers and employees under the purview of the Delhi Janlokpal bill, which is against the essence of the state Lokpal bills. The absence of an independent investigating machinery also raises doubts on the government’s intention, Bhushan said. Also, unlike the Uttarakhand Lokpal bill on which the Delhi Lokapl bill is modelled, this bill aims to award a one-year jail term for false complaints. The falsity would be decided by the “sarkari Lokpal”, thus attracting no complaints.