Is the Bill within the legislative competence of Parliament? Yes. All provisions in Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill are within the legislative competence of Parliament, including the provisions relating to Lokayuktas in the States. Some confusion is being spread in the media that Parliament cannot enact all the provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill, particularly those relating to the Lokayuktas in the States, a law for which will have to be...

Over the last few days, as a desperate government tried to tide over the Lokpal Bill crisis, it received over half-a-dozen variants of the draft legislation. On Saturday, both Houses of Parliament took up the subject and though the debate was mostly confined to the Jan Lokpal Bill, it made the political point that while an effective law should be devised to tackle corruption, Parliament’s supremacy must be maintained. The...

Congress negotiators and Anna Hazare's associates repeatedly shifted the goalposts through the four-and-half-month stand-off on the shape and structure of the Lokpal Bill. The Anna group flagged as many as 40 issues during the many rounds of discussions in the joint Lokpal drafting committee set up after Mr. Hazare ended his April 2011 fast in Jantar Mantar here. Of these, 34 were more or less resolved by the time negotiations broke...

A day after Parliament passed a resolution conveying the “sense of the House” on the Lokpal Bill, the Parliamentary Standing Committee which is examining the Bill said today that it has a “challenging task” ahead. Asked what the Parliament’s resolution meant for the Lokpal Bill, which is under consideration of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law & Justice, its chairman, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, told The Indian Express:...

-The Times of India   On a motion moved by Pranab Mukherjee, Lok Sabha on Saturday passed a resolution conveying the sense of the House on the Lokpal Bill. After the passage of the resolution, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the Lok Sabha till Monday. There was some confusion over whether the resolution was passed by a voice vote or not. Apparently, no voice vote took place. "Thumping of the desk is akin to passing a...