CHENNAI: Strongly criticising the Jan Lok Pal Bill (JLB) proposed by Team Anna for several shortcomings, a group of activists here on Tuesday said that the loopholes that fostered corruption must be plugged, rather than betting on a behemoth-like institution. The opposition to the proposed bill came up at a discussion organised here by the Southern India Education Trust and Forum for Promotion of Moderate Thought Among Muslims. Convener of All India Secular Forum, Prof Ram Puniyani wondered as to how the democratic processes and Parliamentary procedures could be circumvented in the guise of stemming corruption. It is questionable that a small group claims to represent a country like India. “Punishing the corrupt is just one aspect. It is more important to look into issues that creates graft. If this draconian Bill gets through, it will mark the end of democracy and usher in an autocratic regime,” he said. Former Union Revenue Secretary R Sivaraman said the Bill was heavily tilted against government servants and even denied opportunity to the accused to defend themselves. Even without conclusively understanding the extent of graft in the country, the Bill seeks to create a huge institution for which, the annual expected expenditure would be as high as `30,000 crore. In most countries corruption is dealt through normal laws. In India too, laws do not bar investigation into complaints against judges or even the Prime Minister. A Faizur Rahman of the Forum of Moderate Thought pointed out that the JLB presumed that an act of corruption will be committed only by a government servant. Pointing out that Constitutional experts had warned that the JLB was unconstitutional, he wondered why Hazare and his team does not want to bring NGOs under the Bill’s ambit.
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