The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 was passed by the Lok Sabha on 27th December, 2011. The Bill was taken up for discussion and passing in the Rajya Sabha on 29.12.2011. Discussions remained inconclusive. Thereafter, the Rajya Sabha adopted a motion on 21.05.2012 to refer the Bill to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha for examination and report.

The Government has tabled a strong Lokpal Bill in Parliament which has features that are more progressive than in any Bill tabled before. This Bill has been prepared after extensive discussions with you and your colleagues and all suggestions that were considered to be feasible have been incorporated. This Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha. Government is of the opinion that Parliament has to take a final view on the Bill and the passage of the Bill should be a Parliament-led process. To this end, Government is open to suggestions from all parties. In fact, many suggestions have been accepted by the Government in the course of the discussions on the Bill and two all-party meetings have been held in an effort to build consensus. The Bill has now been referred to a Select Committee which will be open to receive and examine all relevant suggestions.

On December 30, 2011, Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs spoke to the media and gave a detailed account of the Bills that were passed in one or both the Houses and the Bills that are pending for consideration. Of these, only the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill and the Whistle Blowers were passed by the Lok Sabha and are now before the Rajya Sabha. One Bill has been reported by the Standing Committee and other Bills are with the Standing Committee.

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday night passed the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011 with amendments by a voice vote following a day-long stormy debate in Parliament.   The bill obtained the nod of the Lok Sabha after the government moved a few key amendments to it.  Of the ten amendments moved by the government, seven [...]

The Government introduced in Lok Sabha the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill 2011, aimed at setting up the body of Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas at the level of the States. The proposed autonomous and independent bodies, Lokpal and Lokayuktas, shall have powers of superintendence and direction for holding a preliminary inquiry, causing an investigation to be made and prosecution of offences in respect of complaints under any law for the prevention of corruption. The Bill provides a uniform vigilance and anti corruption road map for the nation, both at Centre and States. The Bill institutionalizes separation of investigation from prosecution and thereby removing conflict of interest as well as increasing the scope for professionalism and specialisation.

There are some very special moments in the life of a nation. This is one such moment. The nation awaits with bated breath how the collective wisdom of this House will be reflected in the vote at the end of the debate on the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011.

Union Cabinet meeting on Tuesday cleared the Lokpal Bill, which may be tabled in Parliament on December 22. The final draft of the bill was okayed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier today.

In double whammy for Kiran Bedi, a key member of Team Anna, a Delhi court on Saturday ordered lodging of an FIR against her for allegedly misappropriating funds meant for her NGOs and rejected her complaint seeking further probe into Commonwealth Games-related graft cases. The court refused to entertain a complaint filed by Bedi and others including yoga guru Ramdev and Arvind Kejriwal, another key Team Anna member, for a further probe in CWG graft cases.

Heeding to Anna Hazare’s demands, Parliament today adopted a ‘Sense of the House’ on three key issues raised by him with regard to the Lokpal Bill with an aim of persuading him to end his 12-day hunger strike. The ‘Sense of the House’ was adopted with thumping of desks without any voting after an extraordinary debate in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on the statement made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on issues related to the Lokpal Bill.

Madam, it has been mentioned to me that Shri Anna Hazare and his colleagues are very keen that their Bill should be discussed in the Parliament. I have not thought over this matter in great depth, but a thought comes to me that perhaps we could have a debate in this House on all the Bills that are in the public domain and have a discussion what are the weak points of various Bills and what are the strong points of various Bills and at the end of that debate, send the whole record for consideration of the Standing Committee of the Parliament. I have a feeling that this will meet the point that Shri Anna Hazare and his colleagues have been making that Parliament must have a chance to give its views on their Bill before sending it to the Standing Committee and therefore, I submit to this august House that this is one via media which will respect the parliamentary supremacy and, at the same time, enable Parliament to take on board ideas contained in the Lokpal Bill drafted by Shri Anna Hazare and his colleagues.