Lokpal Bill: First joint drafting committee meet ends, next on May 2

New Delhi, Apr 16 (ANI): The ten-member Joint Government-Civil Society Committee for drafting the anti-graft Lokpal Bill met here today for the first time.

After attending the meeting, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said the drafting committee will now meet on May 2.

Sibal also said that proceeding of the entire meeting recorded on audio.

Chaired by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the meeting was held at the North Block.

Other government representatives on the panel include Home Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Resources Minister Salman Khursheed.

Five representatives of civil society who will work with the five ministers to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman bill) include Shanti Bhushan, Anna Hazare, eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hege and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal.

The meeting came amid a controversy over a CD allegedly involving eminent lawyer and the panel co-chairman Shanti Bhushan.

Media organisations on Friday anonymously received a compact disc, containing intercepted conversations allegedly between Bhushan, former Samajwadi Party (SP) member Amar Singh and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The contents of the tape are yet to be corroborated but they allege that Bhushan suggests the two influential politicians that a court judge can be bribed and his son Prashant Bhushan, also a member of the Lokpak panel, can get the job done for Rs 4 crores.

Speaking to the media, Bhushan said that they were fabricated and an attempt smear the drafting committee which is trying to work out the tough anti-graft bill, pushed back for 42 years. (ANI)