New Delhi: A crucial bill to amend the 1988 anti-graft law by seeking to punish bribe givers for the first time along with the bribe takers was passed by the Parliament today after the Lok Sabha gave its nod to it.

The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said during the moving of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill for passage in the Lower House, that the aim was to enhance transparency and accountability of the government and also to make the provisions under the law stringent.

He further said that the move reflects the Government’s zero tolerance policy towards corruption.

While replying to the debate started before the bill was approved by a voice vote, Mr. Singh said that through this special measure, it is also being made sure that honest officers are not harassed.

After this, just taking bribe only will not land you jail, but giving it too will, he said.

The Minister also said that prior approval for investigation will be mandatory in such cases of all government officers. Earlier to that, it was restricted to officials above the rank of a Joint Secretary.

The bill went through 43 amendments after which it was approved in the Rajya Sabha and it seeks to set a timeframe within which a court would be able to decide on corruption issues, he said, by adding that such verdicts in such cases have to be given “ordinarily” within two years.

Further to that, he also said that immunity from arrest would be available to all levels of officers, as against the present provision of joint secretary and above.

According to the Minister, the bill had many provision in it to ensure fast-paced speedy trial of corruption cases, besides providing special protection to bureaucrats, even they were to retire, from malicious complaints.

The bill proposes to increase the punishment for bribe takers to a minimum of three years of imprisonment that may be extended to seven years, besides being fined.

As the debate was going on, K H Muniyappa(Cong) said that electoral reforms were the need of time to check corruption in the system.

Corruption can easily be tackled to an extent if money is not involved in elections right from the panchayat to Parliament.

The Congress party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the opposition will certainly support the government in its initiatives if they fought corruption in reality rather than making plain claims.

“Under your rule, India, which was known as the land of saints, has turned into a land of semesters….Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and many others fled the country after defaulting on banks’ money,” he said.

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