Lokpal: Hazare wants judges kept out, Hegde asks why

A day after consensus emerged at a roundtable to keep the higher judiciary out of the purview of the proposed Lokpal — something that even Anna Hazare agreed to — his nominees in the Lokpal Bill drafting committee said the judiciary must be included in the Bill.

Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde told The Indian Express: “I don’t mind and do not understand why they (higher judiciary) should not be included. When even the PM is proposed to be covered under the Lokpal’s ambit, both as per the government’s version and our version too, why not judges?”

This position is different from Hazare’s suggestion that the higher judiciary “should not be covered under Lokpal”.

On Sunday, after the roundtable, former CJIs M N Venkatachaliah and J S Verma said there was consensus that the higher judiciary should be kept out of the Lokpal’s purview.



Referring to the roundtable, India Against Corruption, whose four members are part of the joint drafting committee, said “some people” were of the opinion that the judiciary should not be covered under the Bill.

Meanwhile, Jayaprakash Narayan of Lok Satta, who had organised the roundtable, today met BJP leader LK Advani and Law Minister Veerappa Moily.