'Pass grievance redressal, whistleblower protection bills with Lokpal'
New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) The Grievance Redressal bill and the Whistleblower Protection bill should be passed in the winter session of parliament along with the Lokpal bill to put in place an accountability regime in the country, an NGO working for measures against corruption said Monday.
Anjali Bhardwaj, member of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), said here that various political parties had spoken about their intention to pass the Lokpal bill in the winter session but the other pending anti-corruption measures should also be passed.
She said the Whistleblower Protection bill, 2011 and the Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of Grievances bill, 2011 should be passed in the winter session. She added that the Judicial Accountability bill should also be passed.
"These bills must be passed simultaneously for accountability structure to fall in place," Bhardwaj said.
The winter session of parliament began Dec 5 and is scheduled to end Dec 20.
Bhardwaj, accompanied by NCPRI members Nikhil Dey and Shekhar Singh, said there were no political arguments against the Whistleblower Protection and the Grievance Redressal bills.
Dey said a series of measures were needed for bringing greater accountability in governance and it was impossible to do it with the Lokpal bill alone.
Referring to the need of passage of the Whistleblower Protection bill, he said people using the Right to Information to fight corruption had lost their lives in different parts of the country.
Shekhar Singh said the Lokpal bill tabled by the government was a step forward but NCPRI had reservations over some of its provisions which should be improved.
He said the bill should provide for same procedures for dealing with corruption at the centre and in the states.
He said the receiving officer for annual confidential reports of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials dealing with cases referred by Lokpal should be the ombudsman itself.
He said NCPRI was not in favour of demands that the CBI should be independent.
Shekhar Singh said there there should be territorial jurisdiction of the Central Vigilance Commission as it would be difficult for an office located in Delhi to deal with all group C and group D employees in the country.
He said Grievance Redressal bill will help address complaints of citizens.