New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) Government today dismissed as "totally mischievous" reports that it was considering a move to give statutory backing to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), a move that would take away its enforcement from Election Commission (EC) to courts. "The contents of the report are totally misconceived as there is no such move under contemplation of the Government or the Group of Ministers," the Department of Personnel said in an official release. The DoPT was reacting to reports that the Group of Ministers on corruption was going to consider giving a statutory backing to the MCC at its meeting tomorrow. "The GoM has not made any recommendation to make the MCC statutory or to take it outside the purview of the Commission," the DoPT said. The release recalled that the news reports said that the Government has started working on giving the MCC a statutory backing and that if it is successful, complaints pertaining to code violations will go out of the purview of the EC. The report also indicated that the Union Legislative Secretary has been asked to make a presentation before the GoM on Corruption at its meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow on the issue of giving statutory shape to executive instructions issued by the EC and that such a statutory backing means the code violations would be covered by law and hence be tried in a court rather than being left to the discretion of the EC, as is the case now. (MORE) PTI SKL
