Photo: PTI
Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said the government had already met the three demands of Anna Hazare on Lokpal "crucial" to his desire and he was under the impression that the activist would not sit on fast.
He also said that he had recently met Hazare, not as a government representative, but as a "citizen" to end the "confrontation" that is both "unnecessary and unwarranted".
This is perhaps for the first time that he has admitted meeting Hazare recently. "I think we have already met that (the demands) long ago. My understanding was he would not sit on fast. That's no concern of mine, that's for him to decide," he said.
He said the issues of inclusion of all categories of government employees under the ambit of Lokpal, creation of Lokayukta in the states and provision of a grievance redressal mechanism have been addressed.
Khurshid said while government was initially willing to put only group A and B employees under Lokpal and allow CVC to handle the rest, it later heeded to the demand and placed all categories under the ombudsman.
On the issue of Lokayukta, Khurshid said, "States felt this should be left as a model legislation...we have done that." "The third thing was Citizen's Charter. We have provided that in the Citizen's Grievances and Redressal Bill which is very comprehensive," he said.
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