This story is from August 6, 2011
Allahabad: A 15-member team of district unit of India Against Corruption under the leadership of Shimlashri met the lawyers of Allahabad high court on Friday and urged their support in Anna Hazare 's agitation against corruption. They also distributed copies of the letter addressed to the people of country by Hazare.
Joint secretary, Allahabad unit, Sunita said that lawyers were of the view that the present format of Lokpal Bill of the Central government would not serve the purpose to eradicate corruption from the country. They also condemned the stand of the Centre and its ministers that no organisation should be allowed to encroach upon the functioning of the parliament. It is the parliament which can enact the law and no one else.
The lawyers added that the stand of the Central government was against the desire of crores of people of the country who want removal of corruption from the country through a strong Lokpal Bill.
They accepted that the parliament can enact laws but is also true that the parliament is made by the people and for the people to maintain the democratic set up of the country. But the present format of Lok Pal Bill shall not serve the purpose to eradicate corruption from the country, they said.
A bill to eliminate corruption has been introduced into the lower house of India's parliament, but critics including lawyers and human rights activists are skeptical of the measures contained.

The Draft , introduced into parliament on Thursday, seeks to establish an ombudsman, or Lokpal, to investigate wrongdoing by government and officials. It comes after decades of campaigning against government corruption and the hunger strike of anti-corruption activist  earlier this year.

But the bill has been heavily criticized by Indian activists and lawyers who claim that it does not meet the needs of the people and will not free the country from corruption.

The exemption of the prime minister and other members of parliament from being investigated will prevent it from working successfully, they argue. "There is no substance in the discussion that the prime minister should be out of the Lokpal Bill," a judge on the  said on Wednesday, speaking outside his official capacity.

Following his hunger strike in April, Hazare pushed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to re-introduce the Lokpal Bill into Parliament. But he has condemned its current form calling it "a cruel joke." Hazare will again protest to have the draft bill revised and changed. "I will start my hunger strike from August sixteenth," he said.

, general secretary of the , yesterday said that the bill will set up "a very weak Lokpal – a Lokpal that has no effective powers". He also said that allowing government officials to appoint the Lokpal would affect its independence. 

After meeting with lawyers of the  Friday, members from , a citizen's movement, said that the lawyers agreed that the introduced Lokpal Bill would not get rid of corruption in India. 

Mark Dummit, from ''The BBC'', said that there is no guarantee that the bill will be passed. Past attempts have been denied by the upper house of Parliament since 1969.


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