PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF RAJYA SABHA ON THE PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2013 (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 12th August, 2016) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi August, 2016/Sravana, 1938 (Saka) Website : http//rajyasabha.nic.in E-Mail : [email protected] Hindi version of this publication is also available PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF RAJYA SABHA ON THE PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2013 (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 12th August, 2016) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi August, 2016/Sravana, 1938 (Saka) CONTENTS PAGES 1. COMPOSITION OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE.............................. (i)-(ii) 2. INTRODUCTION.................................................................. (iii)-(ix) 3. ACRONYMS....................................................................... (x) 4. REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE..................................... 1-34 5. BILL AS REPORTED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE....................... 35-54 6. MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE....................... 55-141 7. ANNEXURES...................................................................... 143-196 (i) Written Suggestions/Amendments received from Members of the Committee on the Bill...................... 145-174 (ii) List of Organisations/Experts/Individuals who submitted memoranda on the Bill.............................. 175-180 (iii) Study note on the study visits of the committee to Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata........................... 181-196 COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (As constituted on 11th December, 2015) *1. Shri Bhupender Yadav — Chairman 2. Shri Shantaram Naik 3. Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita 4. Shri Naresh Agrawal 5. Shri Sukhendu Sekhar Roy 6. Shri Anubhav Mohanty 7. Shri Devender Goud T. 8. Mir Mohammad Fayaz 9. Shri A. Navaneethakrishnan 10. Shri Praful Patel 11. Shri D. Raja 12. Shri Hishey Lachungpa 13. Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar #14. Shri Tiruchi Siva 15. Shri Naresh Gujral 16. Shri Satish Chandra Misra 17. Shri Sanjay Raut @18. Shri C.P. Narayanan **19. Shri Dilipbhai Pandya ##20. Shri Shamsher Singh Manhas * Appointed as Chairman w.e.f. 12th July, 2016 consequent upon the retirement of Shri Anil Madhav Dave from Rajya Sabha. # Appointed in lieu of Smt. Kanimozhi on 22nd December, 2015. @ Appointed as Member with effect from 27th April, 2016 consequent upon retirement of Shri K.N. Balagopal on 21st March, 2016 from Rajya Sabha. ** Appointed as Member with effect from 19th July, 2016 consequent upon retirement of Shri Anil Madhav Dave on 29th June, 2016 from Rajya Sabha. ## Appointed as Member with effect from 19th July, 2016 consequent upon retirement of Dr. Chandan Mitra on 29th June, 2016 from Rajya Sabha. (i) $21. Shri Pramod Tiwari $$22. Shri Harivansh ^^23. Shri Swapan Dasgupta SECRETARIAT 1. Dr. D. B. Singh, Secretary 2. Shri K. P. Singh, Joint Secretary 3. Shri Ashok K. Sahoo, Joint Director 4. Shrimati Niangkhannem Guite, Assistant Director $ Appointed as Member with effect from 19th July, 2016 consequent upon retirement of Shri Avinash Pande from Rajya Sabha on 4th July, 2016 who was appointed upon retirement of Shri Mani Shankar Ayyar on 21st March, 2016 from Rajya Sabha. $$ Appointed as Member with effect from 19th July, 2016 consequent upon retirement from Rajya Sabha of Shri K.C. Tyagi on 7th July, 2016 from Rajya Sabha. ^^ Appointed as Member with effect from 19th July, 2016 consequent upon appointment of Shri Ramdas Athawale to the Union Council of Ministers with effect from 5th of July, 2016. (ii) INTRODUCTION As the Chairman of the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and having been authorized by the Committee to submit the Report on its behalf, I present this Report on the Bill. 2. The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on the 19th August, 2013. The Bill was referred to the Department-related Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice which presented its Sixty-ninth Report on the Bill to the Parliament on 6th February, 2014. The Ministry had also sought the views of the Law Commission on the amendments and the Law Commission made several recommendations in its Two Hundred and Fifty Fourth Report in 2015. In the light of the recommendations made in those Reports, the Government proposed as many as thirty-one official amendments to the Bill in 2015, which were substantive in nature and had far reaching impact on the Bill. The Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was constituted on 11th December, 2015 to examine the Bill and the amendments proposed by the Government and the Members and report to the Rajya Sabha by the last day of the first week of the Two Hundred and Thirty Eighth Session of the House. 3. The Committee held fifteen sittings in all. 4. The Committee, in its first sitting held on 21st December, 2015, had a general discussion on the issues involved in the Bill and deliberated upon the course of action and the procedure for examination of the Bill. As is the practice, the Committee decided to have wider consultations with stakeholders and to invite views and suggestions from interested individuals / organizations / stakeholders/experts by issuing a Press Release in the form of an advertisement in English, Hindi and other vernacular languages in major leading national and regional newspapers. The Committee (iii) also decided to hear the views of the State Governments, Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Public Sector Undertakings, Public Sector Banks, Employees Associations of State Government, Legal luminaries and Members of Civil Society by undertaking study-visits to Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata. Accordingly, a press communique was issued to solicit the views of the public at large. In response to the Press Release issued seeking suggestions/ views on the Bill, 128 memoranda were received and out of these, 12 were treated as substantive. Comments of the Department of Personnel and Training on the main suggestions/comments contained therein were sought for the consideration of the Committee. 5. In its second sitting held on the 12th January, 2016, the Committee heard the views of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC); Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on the provisions of the Bill. 6. In its third sitting held on the 13th January, 2016, the Committee heard the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG) on the Bill and sought clarifications on the complex legal issues. 7. The Committee also undertook study-visits to Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata in the month of February, 2016. During the study-visits, the Committee held interactions with State Governments of Karnataka; Tamil Nadu; Maharashtra; West Bengal; Bihar; Odisha; and Gujarat; UT Administrations of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Bar Council of Karnataka; Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industries; Indian Bank's Association (IBA); Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Institute of Cost Accountants of India; Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Bharat Chamber of Commerce; Namma Bengaluru Foundation, Bengaluru; Lok Satta, (iv) Hyderabad; Janagraha, Bengaluru; Avantika Foundation, Bengaluru; Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, Bengaluru; Civic Bangalore, Bengaluru; Coalition Against Corruption; Karnataka State Government Employees' Association; Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka; Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association; All India Bank Employees' Association; All India Bank Officers Confederation and various Public Sector Undertakings/ Banks.The Committee also interacted with Justice Santosh Hegde, (Retd.) Judge of Supreme Court and Former Lokayukta, Karnataka; and Shri V. Balasubramanian, Former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and Chairman, Transparency International, India -Karnataka during its study-visit to Bengaluru. Justice B. Subhashan Reddy, Lokayukta for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (Former Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Former Chairperson, A.P. State Human Rights Commission) has concurred with the amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 brought by the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and official amendments thereto for effective eradication of corrupt activities in the society while protecting the harassment of the honest among the public servants. A list of Stakeholders who submitted their views to the Committee is at Annexure II. 8. As the Committee required more time for wider consultations, it was not possible for it to present its Report to the House within the period stipulated in the Motion for appointment of the Committee. In its fourth sitting held on the 23rd February, 2016, the Committee decided to seek extension of time to present the Report on the Bill from the House upto 29th April, 2016. The House granted, on a motion moved to that effect on 25th February, 2016, an extension of time upto 29th April, 2016 for presentation of the Report. 9. In its fifth sitting held on the 9th March, 2016, the Committee heard the views of the State Governments of National Capital Territory of Delhi, (v) Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. 10. In its sixth sitting held on the 10th March, 2016, the Committee heard