The passage of several legislations – many of which pertain to anti-corruption – has suffered because a “minister misled the Parliament about them”.
Anjali Bhardwaj, the co-convener of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information and RTI activist, has documented how at least three Bills suffered at the hands of Minister of State Jitendra Singh.
Bhardwaj revealed to The Quint how she found the discrepancies.
The Whistle Blowers Protection Act
The Whistle Blowers Protection Act (WBPA), which received the President’s assent in 2014 after getting passed in Parliament, has not been operationalised till date, Bhardwaj said.
In reply to a question in the Parliament in April 2016, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, asserted that the bill had been forwarded to a committee.
When an RTI application was filed about the same, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in August stated that the bill was not pending with any Parliamentary Committee, she revealed.
Grievance Redressal Bill
Something similar happened with the Grievance Redressal (GR) Bill, the activist said. The current government has consistently given assurances of its “commitment” to re-introducing and passing the bill.
However, in March 2016, when asked about the bill, the government did not mention it and instead stated that it had prepared a scheme known as Delivery of Services and Grievances Redressal Scheme – 2015.
“In reply to RTI applications, the concerned ministry denied her a copy of the GR scheme, stating that the scheme was still under consideration,” Bhardwaj revealed.
The Lokpal Act
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act (LL Act) was notified in the Gazette in January 2014.
The Act has not been operationalised despite almost three years having passed since it was notified in the official gazette.
During the debate in Parliament on the amendment legislation on 27 and 28 July 2016, Singh had given an assurance that the Act would be referred to the Standing Committee.
As per information available on the websites of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, it appears that the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Act, 2016 has not yet been referred to any Parliamentary Standing Committees, she said.
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