Modi govt amends an act taking a step towards setting up of Lokpal

NEW DELHI: In the first indication that the Centre could finally bring Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, the Narendra Modi government has notified that only those private entities with an annual income of Rs 1 crore and above, and which are funded by the government, will come under the Lokpal’s ambit.
It has also been notified by the Centre that Minister-in-Charge of the Ministry making the highest funding to such a private entity will be the ‘competent authority’ which would offer comments to the investigating authority under Lokpal at the stage of a preliminary inquiry and to the Lokpal bench before filing of a chargesheet.
NGOs receiving foreign contribution of over Rs 10 lakh in a year were already put under Lokpal’s ambit as per the 2013 Act. The government has now notified that the ‘competent authority’ to be referred in respect of action against NGOs by the Lokpal will be the Union Home Minister.
This would mean the Minister whose department makes the biggest funding to a private entity and the Home Minister in respect of NGO’s getting foreign aid will be a major voice in determining fate of Lokpal’s corruption inquiries. The Rs 1 crore annual income limit fixed in respect of societies, association of persons or trusts (wholly or partly funded by government) is aimed at checking an anticipated deluge of complaints at Lokpal in respect of private entities.
There has been no movement on the Lokpal bill post a parliamentary standing committee submitting its report last December on an amendment bill brought by the Modi Government to fine tune the 2013 Lokpal Bill passed by Parliament. The Supreme Court had last month pulled up the Centre for sitting on operationalizing the Lokpal and not making any appointments to the body.
“The parliamentary standing committee report was sent to the Law Ministry for vetting and it is work in progress. The present notifications show the fine-tuning of the amendment bill is on and we are committed to bring it to Parliament soon,” a senior official of the Ministry of Personnel told ET. The Congress had taken a swipe at the Modi Government last month saying the non-operationalization of the Lokpal, a bill UPA had passed in 2013, went against the ‘clean image’ of the government at the end of two years in office. “The bill needed changes as it was a hurried job under UPA,” an official said.