Government vows passage of lokpal, other anti-graft bills in winter session
02 Nov 2011
The union government is readying as many as five bills to tackle corruption and make government more accountable, including the lokpal bill, for introduction in the winter session of Parliament, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh told newspersons in New Delhi today.
The five bills are the lokpal bill, a whistleblowers bill, a judicial accountability bill, a citizen's charter, and a public grievance redressal bill.
Ramesh said the government intends to pass the much-debated lokpal bill in the winter session.
On the public grievance redressal bill, Ramesh said that all government work for citizens will have to be completed within 15 days, otherwise it will attract penal action. ''The government will appoint 500,000 officers across the country to monitor public grievances,'' Ramesh added.
He further said that the draft of the bill is ready and the government will seek public opinion on it very soon.
On the citizen's charter, Ramesh said, ''Every public authority will have a citizen's charter which will clearly state the functions of the public offices. People will have direct access to the officers and can complaint if the government authority fails at any point. Immediate action will be taken on all such complaints.''
