New Delhi: The Parliamentary panel examining
the Lokpal Bill has sought the views of former chief justices
of India MN Venkatachaliah and JS Verma on setting up an
anti-corruption ombudsman.
Venkatachaliah and Verma have been invited for recording
their views on the Lokpal before the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice at
its meeting to be held in the next 8-10 days.
Venkatachaliah was the Chief Justice of India between
1993-94 and also headed the National Commission to review the
working of the Constitution.
He has reportedly said that any Lokpal set-up has its own
limitations and would survive only if it takes into account
the need to strengthen every other institution of
Constitutional safeguards.
Verma headed the first Commission on the assassination of
former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and is known for several
significant judgements including the ones in the infamous
Hawala case and Ayodhya land dispute in which he ruled that
acquiring the property of a mosque did not constitute an
abridgement of a Muslim's right to freedom of religious belief
and practice.
Verma is also known for his judgement in which he stated
that Hindutva depicted 'a way of life which cannot be assumed
to mean and be equated per se with narrow fundamentalist Hindu
religious bigotry'.
He is known to have favoured keeping the higher judiciary
and the prime minister out of the purview of the proposed
Lokpal Bill.
Verma had also favoured a "separate mechanism" to make
High Court and Supreme Court judges accountable for
misconduct.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, October 06, 2011, 18:50