New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a crucial meeting on appointment of Lokpal on March 1, the Centre informed the Supreme Court on Friday. The latest push for selecting the anti-corruption ombudsman comes amid sharp attacks by Congress president Rahul Gandhi on the government for not taking action even four years after the Lokpal Act was passed in Parliament.
The meeting next month will also be attended by the leader of the single largest party in the Opposition, the Centre said, indicating a shift in its earlier stand under which it wanted an amendment to the law for replacing the term “Leader of the Opposition (LoP)” with “leader of single largest Opposition party” in the list of members of the Lokpal selection panel.
The Lokpal law seeks to bring the Prime Minister, Union ministers and members of Parliament under the purview of the anti-corruption ombudsman. Accepting the Centre’s submission, the bench directed the department of personnel and training to file an affidavit on the outcome of the Prime Minister-chaired meeting by March 5 and posted the matter for hearing on March 6.
