New Delhi, April 30
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Law Ministry to prepare a comprehensive note on ‘probity’ in public life. This was stated by Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj here today.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a conference on judicial reforms, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), he said, “The Prime Minister has asked me to prepare a comprehensive note on probity in public life. I am going through materials on the issue and will submit it to him soon.”

He at the same time lambasted the Opposition, specially the BJP, for maintaining ‘double standards’ on the issue of ‘tainted ministers’, saying ‘the Vajpayee government also had chargesheeted ministers’.

“There should not be any double standards on such a sensitive issue. There is need to have a public debate on tainted ministers and probity in public life,” he said.

He said the UPA government was not averse to framing a law to prevent induction of chargesheeted persons in the government provided there was a consensus on the issue among all political parties. “We will change the law,” he asserted.

Rejecting the Opposition’s demand for resignation of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, against whom charges were framed in another fodder scam case recently, he said the Prime Minister had already made his position clear on the issue.

While speaking on the legal reforms at the conference, he asked lawyers in the country to be prepared to face challenges in the changed global economic scenario.

“Five years down the line, I may not be here to stop the entry of foreign lawyers in Indian courts. If our lawyers can benefit from practising abroad, why not allow them here?” he said.