Civil society members of the anti-graft Lokpal bill drafting committee were offered money by the government for attending its meetings, said a panel member on Monday.
Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde toldTimes Now channel: 'I have been entitled to an executive airfare from Bangalore to Delhi and Rs. 3,500 per day for various miscellaneous expenses like boarding, lodging and transport expenses.'
'I have refused to accept that part of the expenses. I have only taken the actual air fare for my travel because it was not my work as part of Lokayukta and personally I could not afford for the airfare.'
Hegde also said that apart from the airfare he never accepted other things and spent from his own pocket.
Right to Information (RTI) crusader Arvind Kejriwal, a drafting committee member and key figure in reformer Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption, said: 'Only Annaji and Justice Santosh Hegde will need ... air fare to attend the meetings.'
Explaining the matter, Kejriwal said: 'It was more of a bureaucratic formality. Some under secretary or someone gave us some copy of a circular and we told them we don't need these facilities. We were not there to make money. We were there to make a good law.'
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