NEW DELHI: In protest against the government, senior
Congress leader
Mallikarjun Kharge+
has refused to attend a
Lokpal selection meeting to be chaired by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.
In a letter, Kharge said the Centre is making a "concerted effort to exclude the voice of the Opposition". The letter has been written to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, and was tweeted by the Congress party.
The government invited Kharge who is the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, but not technically the 'leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha'.
There is no leader of the opposition in the current Lok Sabha due to inadequate numbers of the principal opposition party, the Congress . The
Lokpal Act is yet to be amended to include the leader of the single largest opposition party in the
selection committee of the Lokpal.+
That's why the government decided to invite the leader of the
Congress
in Lok Sabha as a 'special invitee' to the meeting.
"Special invitee invitation is a concerted effort to exclude the independent voice of the opposition from selection of most important anti-corruption watch-dog", said Kharge in his letter.
The prime agenda of the meeting of the
Lokpal
selection committee is to finalise the ‘eminent jurist’ member on the panel.
As per Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, an eminent jurist is to be appointed to the selection committee on the recommendation of other members of the panel — the PM, Lok Sabha Speaker, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
Today's meeting will be attended by PM Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker
Sumitra Mahajan
and CJI Dipak Misra. Minister of state for Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh will also attend, as a special invitee.
“The process can get underway even as the government seeks Parliament’s approval to amend the Lokpal & Lokayuktas Act,” said a government official to TOI two days ago. A source said the Lokpal selection committee today will also discuss the “flaw” in the Act relating to silence on the term of the eminent jurist that has been appointed.
File photograph
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