Responding to concerns raised by the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI), Mr. Mukherjee gave assurance that while deliberations of the meetings were not being made public on a routine basis, the basic principles and the draft Lokpal legislation, when ready, would be placed in the public domain to invite opinions.
Individual comments
Mr. Mukherjee said the drafting committee would consider individual comments as well as the opinion of all stakeholders, for which a website has been launched.
On the other hand, committee co-chairman Shanti Bhushan assured NCPRI’s Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey that their suggestions, barring those on public grievances and transparency, had been incorporated during the earlier deliberations and that their latest concerns on procedures and public participation would be placed at the drafting committee’s next meeting.
While underscoring the time that the government process took to put details in the public domain, Mr. Bhushan pointed out the effort taken by civil society members in meticulously preparing the details of discussion and passing it on to the public.
Public pressure
He said that Civil society members had mounted pressure on the government demanding that an official website of the drafting committee for receiving public comments be launched, but the government was unwilling to do so till the basic principles of the Bill were agreed upon.