Govt sits tight on office of profit

NEW DELHI: Unfazed by calls of restraint from constitutional experts and neutral observers, the government has decided to reintroduce the ‘office of profit’ Bill in its present form in Parliament. There seems to be a consensus within the UPA and the Left that the Bill should be sent back to the President “as it is”.

Although responsible sections within the government are of the view that no impression of a confrontation between the President and the government should be created, the others seem to have an upper hand.

As a matter of fact, the Left’s recent attacks on the President are reflective of this itch in the ruling arrangement to read out the limits of presidential powers to APJ Abdul Kalam. As per the Constitution, the President has no option but to sign the Bill when it’s sent back for a second time.

But constitutional experts like Fali Nariman dub the Bill as “illegal, wholly arbitrary and Constitutionally impermissible”. Mr Nariman’s argument is that the new law is “lawless” as it completely contravenes Article 102 of the Constitution, which bars legislators from holding any office of profit under the Union government or any state government other than an office declared by Parliament or by law to not disqualify its holder.

Mr Nariman observes that the first part of the article was founded on the need for establishing and maintaining neutrality and impartiality in public service, while the latter part of it required Parliament to make an “objective assessment” of what constituted an office of profit.

He said the present Bill would enable members who already hold such offices of profit to continue with impunity as it’s yet to be implemented with retrospective effect.

According to him, parliamentarians are attempting to use a “legislative sleight of hand” to remove by law a Constitutional transgression that was already in existence. In other words, the Bill is against the soul of
the Constitution.
The Centre is likely to introduce it in the same form in Parliament during the monsoon session. The Bill will be brought before the Union Cabinet for its clearance soon after the dates for the session are announced. It’s likely to begin in the second half of July.

The President had, on May 30, returned the Bill for reconsideration by both the Houses for a “comprehensive and generic’ criteria. He also wanted that the criteria should be “fair and reasonable” and applicable in a “clear and transparent” manner across all the states and Union Territories.

Another point on which the President had voiced his reservation was about the propriety of applying the law with retrospective effect.

The Parliament Prevention of Disqualification Amendment Bill 2006, had exempted 46 posts from the ambit of the offices of profit criteria including that of National Advisory Council chairperson, an office earlier held by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.