Table of Contents List of Abbreviations Preface Acknowledgements PART I INTRODUCTION Chapter I: Why Lokpal? Chapter II: Khundak, the Felicific Calculus and the Lokpal The Parens Patriae The Felicific Calculus and the systemic inversion of power Lack of people’s power: Finding solutions Happiness and Khundak India’s Variant: The Lokpal The Indian Lokpal: Whether and When? PART II CORRUPTION IN INDIA Chapter III: Intimations of Corruption in India Chapter IV: Corruption Legislation in India Prevention of Corruption Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 Parliamentary Debate of 1952: Legal Tweaking Framing the new Act of 1988: A diversion The Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 The Vigilance Angle Santhanam Committee and the Central Vigilance Commission Central Vigilance Bill (137) of 1999 Report of the Joint Committee on the CVC Bill 1999 Parliamentary discussions on the CVC Bill of 1999 CVC Act 2003 Vohra Committee The Vohra Report on Corruption Parliamentary discussions on the Vohra Report Finding legal answers: SC on the Vohra Report Prevention of Corruption Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 Parliamentary Debate of 1952: Legal Tweaking Framing the new Act of 1988: A diversion The Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 The Vigilance Angle Santhanam Committee and the Central Vigilance Commission Central Vigilance Bill (137) of 1999 Report of the Joint Committee on the CVC Bill 1999 Parliamentary discussions on the CVC Bill of 1999 CVC Act 2003 Vohra Committee The Vohra Report on Corruption Parliamentary discussions on the Vohra Report Finding legal answers: SC on the Vohra Report PART III GOVERNMENT LOKPAL LEGISLATIONS (1963–2010) Chapter V: Why Lokpal? The (L. M.) Singhvi Interlude (1963-66) Lokayukta Resolution (1964) ARC Report (1966) LS debates ARC Report (1966) Chapter VI: Lokpal Bills (1967–71) P. K. Deo’s Bill (1967) Parliamentary discussion on P. K. Deo’s Bill Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill (1968) Report of the Joint Committee, 1968–69 Parliamentary Debate on JDC (1969) The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 1971 Chapter VII: Lokpal Bills (1977–96): Regime-Revenge models The Lokpal Bill of 1977 Parliamentary debate on JC (1977) Joint Committee Report on the Lokpal Bill and debates (1977) The Lokpal Bill of 1985 Parliamentary Motion on Lokpal Bill (1985) Joint Committee Report on Lokpal Bill (1985) The Lokpal Bill (1989) Towards the Resolution of 1995 The Resolution of 1995 Introduction of the Lokpal Bill (1996) The Lokpal Bill (1996) Standing Committee report on the Lokpal Bill (1996) Chapter VIII: Lokpal Bills (1998–2001): Political Corruption Models The Lokpal Bill of 1998 Standing Committee Report on the Lokpal Bill (1998) The Lokpal Bill (2001) Standing Committee Report on the Lokpal Bill (2001) Chapter IX: The Lost Years: 2001–10 The NCRWC and the Lokpal Second Administrative Reforms Commission (the Moily Panel) The Lokayukta Experience PART IV CONCLUSION Chapter X: Past Tense, Future Problems Index Among the innumerable solutions proposed to combat corruption and maladministration in India was the institution of the Lokpal. Its story began around 1963 and continued through the heady days of the Anna Hazare campaign to produce a flawed result passed by Parliament in 2013. But what is the Lokpal? Like so many concepts of governance, it is an institution to root out maladministration and corruption. Bureaucrats hated it and sought to wriggle out of its jurisdiction. Politicians had no choice but to broadly accept it, but were wary of its implications for ministers and legislators. Political parties saw in it an opportunity to examine the past five years of the previous past regimes as an incidence of ‘regime revenge’. The Lokpal Idea, 1963-2010, critically examines debates, documents, ideas, and material to show how the idea of Lokpal was moulded and remoulded to suit politicians and civil servants and others, and asks: Are remedial institutions like the Lokpal the real answer? Can the Lokpal be seen as an artefact of governance, or is it a mere plaything in the hands of ruling dispensations?