New Delhi, Aug 1: A petition had been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to restrain activist Anna Hazare from going on a fast on Lokpal bill issue from August 16, saying his demands are “unconstitutional” and amount to “interference in legislative process”.
Hazare, a member of Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee, has announced that he will launch an indefinite fast from August 16 protesting exclusion of Prime Minister and higher judiciary from the purview of the anti-graft legislation.
Hemant Patil, a Maharashtra-based social worker and businessman, has sought the apex court's direction to prohibit Hazare from undertaking the stir, saying “threatening and declaring to go on strike for fulfilment of unconstitutional demand of accepting his proposed Lokpal Bill tantamounts to interference in legislative process”.
The petitioner contended that Hazare's demand for bringing higher judiciary within Lokpal's purview is also unconstitutional.
“Hazare's act of insisting on illegal demand of inclusion of higher judiciary in the draft of Lokpal Bill assailing decision of Union Cabinet is in total contravention of constitutional fundamentals which retain the independence of judiciary having high standards of impeccable integrity as guardians of rule of law,” he said.
The Union Cabinet had on July 29 approved the Lokpal Bill which is likely to be tabled in Parliament on August 3. PTI
