Under the proposed law, citizens would be able to approach the ombudsman with complaints about corrupt officials, including federal ministers and senior bureaucrats who are shielded under India’s current laws.

Information Minister Ambika Soni said the ombudsman would be picked from the highest levels of the judiciary and be supported by eight other officials who would be from the judiciary or be people of “impeccable integrity.”

The proposed law, called the Lokpal bill will now go to Parliament where members will vote on it in the next session, which begins on Aug. 1.

“The overall thrust of the government has been to ensure greater transparency and accountability in every aspect of public life,” Soni said.

The administration of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is reeling from a series of corruption scandals, including the allegedly fraudulent sale of telecom licenses in 2008 estimated to have cost the exchequer up to $40 billion.

The government has struggled to draft the new law amid criticism from the opposition and civil society activists that its version of the bill was too soft on corrupt officials.

Under the bill, the prime minister will not be subject to investigations by the ombudsman.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticized the decision.

“If a prime minister does something corrupt to save his seat and there is no investigation into the corruption, then what does this mean?” BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad told reporters. India has a dismal record of bringing corrupt senior public officials to justice.

Current laws require the government’s approval before any sitting bureaucrat or minister can be prosecuted. The Lokpal bill is expected to remove this requirement.

In addition to the Lokpal bill, the government will also introduce legislation to improve judicial accountability and protect whistleblowers, in a move to fend off allegations that it has been slow to tackle corruption.

On Wednesday, a probe into mining in the BJP-ruled southern state of Karnataka revealed local officialshad connived with businesses to export iron ore illegally, causing a loss to the public of $3.6 billion. The scandal-tainted Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Thursday offered to quit. A BJP spokesman said in New Delhi that Yeddyurappa would resign.

The BJP leadership earlier Thursday "unanimously decided" for a change in the BJP leadership in the southern state.

"From what I believe is that he has offered to resign but has not actually handed over his resignation to the Karnataka governor," BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudi said.

"He is toying around with different ideas," the spokesman said, referring to Yeddyurappa's own search for a successor to the post. "But he has reconciled to the fact that he has to resign," Rudi added.

Yeddyurappa was named Wednesday in a report published by the southern state's ombudsman who was investigating corrupt mining practices.

Judge Santosh Hegde accused the chief minister of enabling illicit mining of iron ore in Karnataka, which cost the public exchequer $3.6 billion between 2006 and 2010.

He recommended the prosecution of Yeddyurappa under the Prevention of Corruption Act for his "direct involvement" in the scam.