In what seems like an encouraging sign for the passing of the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill in the Parliament, the Modi government has put out a fresh notification, reported The Times of India.
The government has declared that private entities with an annual income above Rs 1 crore, and which are funded by the government, will fall under the ambit of the Bill. This is the first development in the Lokpal Bill since December, when a post parliamentary committee had submitted a report on the Bill.
The government has also notified that the Minister-in-Charge of the Ministry making the highest funding to such a private entity will be the ‘competent authority’ who 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.
As per the 2013 Act, NGOs with foreign contribution of over Rs 10 lakh in a year were already put under Lokpal’s ambit . The Union government has now added that the ‘competent authority’ to be referred in respect of action against NGOs by the Lokpal will be the Union Home Minister.
The last movement on the Lokpal Bill was the parliamentary standing committee submitting its report last December on an amendment bill to fine tune the 2013 Lokpal Bill passed by Parliament.
In May, the Supreme Court had pointed out to the Central government its lack of having made any appointments to the Lokpal committee.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)