Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad
High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Attorney General on a writ
petition challenging the resolution issued by the Centre to
constitute a committee on Lokpal Bill.
The order was passed by a bench comprising Chief
Justice F I Rebello and Justice Devendra Kumar Arora on the
petition filed by lawyer Ashok Pandey.
The petitioner submitted that under existing
Constitutional provisions the Centre cannot issue resolution
or notification to constitute a committee on Lokpal Bill.
The bench while directing the AG to file a reply in
three weeks has fixed May 16 as the next date of hearing.
The government on April 8 agreed to issue a formal
order to set up a joint committee for drafting an effective
Lokpal Bill.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was made the
Chairman of the committee which also include Law Minister
Veerappa Moily, Telecom Minister Sibal, Home Minister P
Chidambaram and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid as
members.
Besides Hazare, those representing the civil society
in the joint committee are eminent lawyers Shanti Bhushan,
Prasant Bhushan, retired Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hegde and
RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal.
PTI
