AAP Will Table Lokpal Bill This Session
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In a significant decision aimed at silencing its political opponents, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government will now table the Lokpal Bill in the upcoming session of the Delhi Assembly. According to a source close to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a bill seeking to amend the current provisions of the Lokpal will be brought before the Delhi Cabinet for approval. The Cabinet decision will have be taken before the Delhi Assembly Winter Session starts on Wednesday. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have, on several occasions, questioned the AAP government’s commitment to its own anti- graft credentials in reference to its ‘silence on the Lokpal’ since forming government in February this year. Clarifying that there ‘was no legislative business’ on the government’s agenda in the coming session, the source told The Hindu that the bill in question sought to add more teeth to the current version of the Lokpal Bill. Expected to be accorded the Cabinet’s assent on Wednesday, the bill will be introduced to the Assembly on Monday given the fact that observance of Phool Waalon Ki Sair festival on Thursday necessitated a half-day for the government followed by a day of deliberations on public services on Friday. A senior government official said the decision to table amendments to the Lokpal bill was taken at a preparatory Cabinet meeting on Tuesday with the government of the view that ‘the time to do so was ripe’ in line with the fact that the Amendment in Delhi (Right to Citizens Time Bound Service Delivery) Act was already on the agenda. With both amendments proposing changes in the respective bills that are ‘of a similar nature’ in that they were aimed at ‘affixing accountability and liabilities of public servants in the discharge of their official functions’, both could be tabled ‘more or less together’ so that work on the proposed amendments could come in force by early 2016.
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The Cabinet decision will have be taken before the Delhi Assembly Winter Session starts on Wednesday.
Transcript of AAP Will Table Lokpal Bill This Session
In a significant decision aimed at silencing its political opponents, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government will now table the Lokpal Bill in the upcoming session of the Delhi Assembly.
According to a source close to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a bill seeking to amend the current provisions of the Lokpal will be brought before the Delhi Cabinet for approval.
The Cabinet decision will have be taken before the Delhi Assembly Winter Session starts on Wednesday.
Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have, on several occasions, questioned the AAP government’s commitment to its own anti-graft credentials in reference to its ‘silence on the Lokpal’ since forming government in February this year.
Clarifying that there ‘was no legislative business’ on the government’s agenda in the coming session, the source told The Hindu that the bill in question sought to add more teeth to the current version of the Lokpal Bill.
Expected to be accorded the Cabinet’s assent on Wednesday, the bill will be introduced to the Assembly on Monday given the fact that observance of Phool Waalon Ki Sair festival on Thursday necessitated a half-day for the government followed by a day of deliberations on public services on Friday.
A senior government official said the decision to table amendments to the Lokpal bill was taken at a preparatory Cabinet meeting on Tuesday with the government of the view that ‘the time to do so was ripe’ in line with the fact that the Amendment in Delhi (Right to Citizens Time Bound Service Delivery) Act was already on the agenda.
With both amendments proposing changes in the respective bills that are ‘of a similar nature’ in that they were aimed at ‘affixing accountability and liabilities of public servants in the discharge of their official functions’, both could be tabled ‘more or less together’ so that work on the proposed amendments could come in force by early 2016.
