New Delhi, February 6 (IANS): A parliamentary panel Thursday recommended that a bill to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act be passed in the current parliament session itself -- taking the total number of anti-corruption legislations listed for passage to seven.
The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) bill has amongst its provisions bringing the corporate sector under the Act, but with certain riders. It also makes giving bribe an offence. “We now have seven anti-graft bills for passage in this session,” said Shantaram Naik, Congress member of the Rajya Sabha and chairman of the standing committee on personnel, public grievance, law and justice presenting the report of his panel. The committee largely endorsed the government’s bill, according to which private companies found involved in corruption will be punished. The bill, however, has a rider. “If the corporate body has a mechanism in place to check corruption, and still an incident of corruption happens, the company will not be liable but the individual taking or giving of bribe will be punished,” Naik told reporters.