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| Corrupt MPs, State legislators can be proscuted | | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI, JUNE 18: A major official step is round the corner: Existing anti-corruption law is being amended to empower the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha as well as the presiding officers of the Asemblies in States and Union Territories to grant sanction to prosecute members of Parliament (MPs) and State legislators for graft.
The Ministry of Personnel has initated a proposal under which the presiding officers of two Houses of Parliament would be designated authorites to give necesary sanction in the case of MPs. The Personel Ministry is under the administrative control of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). In cases of corruption involving members of Legislative Asemblies and Councils in States and Union Territories, the presiding officers of the Houses will have the power to allow the politicans to be prosecuted.
Last month, a Group of Ministers (GoM) cleared the proposal to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, headed the GoM. The group consited of Law Minister, HR Bhardwaj, and Minister of State for Personnel, Suresh Pachuri.
The proposal was subsequently sent to the Legislative Department of the Law Ministry. The main objective of the move was to enable the Legislative Department to prepare a note for the Cabinet. The Legislative Department was also mandated to draft a bill to amend Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Section 19 provides that an investigative agency has to secure prior sanction from the appropriate authority to prosecute corrupt public servants. Sanction 19 would be amended to empower the presiding officers of Parliament and State Legislatures with the authority to grant the necesary sanction.
The Ministry of Personnel appears keen on ensuring that the bill is intgroduced in Parliament during the upcoming monsoon session. Before that the Union Cabinet will meet to approve the bill.
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