NEW DELHI: Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has cited urgency, the brief nature of the bill and its far-reaching impact to push through the bill banning ‘instant talaq’ and not be amenable to the Opposition’s plea in Parliament to send the bill to a select committee. However, when it comes to a key anti-corruption legislation, the government has chosen to wait.As the winter session ends this week without any sight of the government tabling an amendment bill to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, the anti-corruption legislation will complete four years of being inoperative despite having come into force on January 16, 2014.On December 27, the government in a cryptic reply to a question by Congress member from Kerala, Anto Antony, gave no commitment on when it will bring the bill, saying it was still “considering” the recommendations made by an interministerial committee of seven ministers on the Lokpal amendment bill. The government had given the same reply to Parliament on August 2 last year, saying the committee had submitted its report recently, without specifying the date. One of the ministers in the committee told ET the “detailed” report had been submitted in July.While a group of ministers decided upon the draft of the triple talaq legislation in just about a month, the group of ministers in the case of Lokpal dwelled over a report of a parliamentary committee for almost a year before giving its report.This in effect means that the Centre has been discussing the standing committee report for more than two years now — first before the group of ministers and now at its top levels.The committee gave its report on the Lokpal amendment bill of NDA in December 2015, after dwelling on it for a year as well. While the government and the Opposition are locking horns over whether the talaq bill should be sent to a select panel, the Lokpal law has been through two standing committees but still awaits operationalisation.Two key issues are inherent to both set of laws. One, the government cites the SC ruling in the talaq case to say a law is required urgently as the undesirable way of enacting a divorce continues to be practised. But the Supreme Court had also questioned the government on why the Lokpal Act was not in force.In April last year, the court had said the Lokpal Act as it stands “is an eminently workable piece of legislation” and there is “no justification” to keep its enforcement under suspension till the amendments, as proposed, are carried out. But the government has refused to act so far.The second inherent issue flows from this as NDA says UPA brought the Lokpal law in 2013 in a hurry without adequate application of mind and hence an amendment bill was required to make the law workable. This was despite a standing committee vetting the bill in 2013 as well before its enactment.NDA ministers say Congress rushed through Lokpal in an attempt to brush aside its “corrupt image” ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Now, Congress accuses NDA of enacting the talaq law in a hurry without adequate application of mind to its provisions, and some opposition members blame the hurry on politics before the 2019 general election.