Congress boycotts Lokpal selection panel meet again

September 04, 2018 22:02

The Congress Tuesday boycotted the Lokpal Selection Committee meeting for a fifth time this year, asserting that it would continue to do so until the leader of the single largest opposition party is given the status of a full-fledged member in the panel.

The leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, conveying his decision on today's meeting of the panel.

The selection committee will set up a search panel for recommending names for the appointment of the anti-graft ombudsman, the Lokpal, and its members.

"The government continues to invite me as a special invitee to the Selection Committee meeting despite being aware of the fact that there is no provision under section 4 of the Lokpal Act, 2013. Accepting this invitation to attend as a 'Special Invitee' without rights of participation, recording of opinion and voting in the procedure would be violative of both the letter and spirit of the Lokpal Act.

"I am therefore, forced, once again to respectfully decline the invitation to attend the meeting of the Selection Committee until the leader of single largest opposition party is conferred the status of a full-fledged member as envisioned in the Lokpal Act, 2013," Kharge said in his letter to the prime minister.

The Congress leader said he is also aware that the government is using this opportunity to spread a "canard" that the opposition is "not cooperating" in implementing the Lokpal Act despite the fact that the government itself maintains that he was not a member of the selection committee.

"The very fact that the government was forced to act by the Supreme Court indicated the lack of seriousness and sincerity of the government in implementing the Lokpal Act," he alleged.

"I am at a loss to understand what apprehensions the government has in including the opposition as a part of the Selection Committee only when it comes to the appointment of the Lokpal. Your good self is aware that the leader of the single largest party in the opposition is a member of the committees that selects that CVC and CBI Director," he said in his letter. -- PTI

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