Parliament passes anti-graft Bill that punishes bribe givers too

The Parliament on Tuesday passed an anticorruption Bill that provides for punishment to bribe givers and takers and extends prior nod for prosecution to former public officials with the Lok Sabha given its assent to the lawThe Prevention of Corruption Amendment Bill 2018 passed by the lower house after a reply by Minister of State for Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh was passed by Rajya Sabha last weekIn his reply the minister said the Bill provides safeguards to officers who perform their duties with honestyWe have brought amendments so that honest performing officer does not get intimidated or his initiatives get killed he saidSingh said the historic legislation has provisions to ensure speedy trial in corruption casesFor any corruption case we will bring guidelines for decision to be ordinarily given in two years he said The minister said the government aimed at taking strict measures against corruption while also ensuring good work atmosphereReferring to delay in appointment of Lokpal he said the blame laid with Congress as it did not get enough seats for its leader to be recognised as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok SabhaThe Leader of Opposition is a member of Lokpal selection panel Singh said the government had sought to include the leader of the largest opposiiton party in the meetings concerning appointment of LokpalMany members who took part in the debate stressed on the need for electoral reforms to curb corruptionSome opposition members accused the government of diluting the anticorruption act through the amendments They also cautioned the government over the provision to punish the bribe giverShiv Sena member Arvind Ganpat Sawant targeted the Modi government over demonetisation and asked if its stated objectives had been achievedCiting some other decisions related to the government he said it is easy to talk about corruption and difficult to walk the talkHe asked if expenses of a party meeting addressed by Prime Minister or a Chief Minister are borne by the exchequer or the political party concernedElection is den of corruption school admission is den of corruption he saidThe Bill provides for imprisonment from three to seven years besides fine to those convicted of taking bribes Bribe givers have also been included in the legislation for the first time and they can be punished with imprisonment up to seven years fine or bothCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever