India ombudsman update: Impasse continues over monitoring PM

Signalling an impossible impasse, the joint panel tasked with drafting a new ombudsman law to root out India's ubiquitous corruption problems submitted two competing drafts for consideration at an upcoming all-party meeting, the Economic Times reported.

The drafting panel, which included representatives from non-government organizations and outside legal experts at the behest of anti-corruption protesters led by Anna Hazare, could not come to an agreement about whether the prime minister and supreme court judges should have to answer to the ombudsman while serving in office.

Addressing the media after the last meeting of the draft panel, Kapil Sibal, a top minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet, said that the draft bills might be subject to a much wider consultation process, including all political parties as well as state governments, the paper said.

Sibal said the government was happy with the progress made, even though some differences remained. The key differences that remained were over the inclusion of the prime minister, Supreme Court and lower bureaucracy under the ombudsman's monitoring powers. The government opposes giving the ombudsman power over all three, arguing that including the PM might prevent the government from functioning and including the Supreme Court would subvert its constitutional powers. As far as the bureaucracy, the government favors the inclusion of officers of grade A and above.