Shanti Bhushan, co- chairperson of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill has said the government is under international obligation to include the prime minister, judges and members of parliament under the ambit of the anti- graft watchdog.

Referring to the united nation convention against corruption (UNCAC) signed by India, Bhushan said that the government has to formulate a mechanism in line with the convention. “The convention required that any public servant falling in the definition of ‘public official’ in Article 2 (a) is covered by this Lokpal bill. This definition clearly includes the prime minister, the judges, the MPs, as well as officials respective of rank,” said Bhushan in a letter written to Pranab Mukherjee.

As per UNCAC, the anti- corruption body should have the power to investigate, prosecute the allegedly corrupt, apart from freezing, seizure and confiscate the proceedings of their corruption.

The government has repeatedly said that the prime minister and the judges of the High Courts and Supreme Court would not be covered by the proposed Lokpal.

Bhushan has also questioned the government's apprehension on telecasting the proceedings of the meetings of the committee. “The people ought to know why there is a difference between your viewpoint and our viewpoint,” said the letter.

Though the telecast of the proceedings is not a pre- condition of the civil society to attend the meetings, the members have been demanding it since the first meeting.

The government has been maintaining that it would not be able to express its views freely before live TV.

“The five civil society members do not any hesitation in expressing their opinion freely if it were telecast. Why should government members have a problem in expressing fee opinion publicly?” asked Bhushan.