Gandhinagar, 24 August, 2011

The government of Gujarat has appointed a group of ministers to review existing Lokpal act in the state in light of the proposed Lokpal bill that is to be passed by the Indian parliament. The review committee is headed by Gujarat’s senior most minister Vajubhai Vala. Other members of the committee are minister Jaynarayan Vyas, Dilip Sanghani, Pradipsinh Jadeja and Ranjit Gilitwala.

It should be mentioned that when asked about Modi not appointing Lokpal in Gujarat, one of the top Lokpal activists Kiran Bedi had said in Vadodara in May this year, “I am hoping that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will appoint Lokayukta once the Jan Lokpal Bill is introduced.”

Bedi had said at that time: “During the movement for the drafting of the Jan Lokpal Bill, we had met Modi. During this meeting, he had promised us that he would appoint Lokayukta once the Jan Lokpal Bill is introduced. It is quite possible that he (Modi) must be waiting for the Jan Lokpal Bill to be introduced.”

Now when Lokpal Bill is ready to be introduced in the parliament, Modi has appointed a committee as per his promise to Jan Lokpal activists.