Two CM appointees fall under office of profit violation?

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s last week’s appointments – Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Arvind Sawant as head of the parliamentary coordination committee

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s last week’s appointments – Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Arvind Sawant as head of the parliamentary coordination committee and Member of Legislative Assembly Ravindra Waikar as the chief coordinator of the chief minister office (CMO) – may come under the cloud of office of profit violation.

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The Constitution bars any elected representative from holding an additional office that gives him or her monetary gains and other perks. Both Sawant and Waikar were elevated to the post of cabinet ministers by Thackeray. While Sawant, as per the appointment order, was offered office space, official vehicle and staff, Waikar was granted only office space, raising questions within political circles and rumours about their resignations. However, Waikar clarified to Hindustan Times later on Thursday that the two appointments do not violate the office of profit rule as additional allowances are not being drawn.

Shreehari Aney, former advocate general of Maharashtra, said, “The underlying principle on which this is judged states that any kind of grant or access to state funds would normally make the recipient hold an office of profit, regardless of whether an elected representative draws an actual periodical monetary benefit like an allowance.”

Waikar, however, claimed that there was no need to resign as this does not amount to violation of the office of profit norms. “This is not happening for the first time as the previous government, too, had appointed legislators on various statutory boards and corporations. I am not drawing any additional allowances.”

According to the officials from the CMO, in the previous government, at least 16 legislators were appointed to various government bodies, with the status of ministers. “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Sanjay Patil and Sanjay Dhotre were given the status of ministers by the Fadnavis government. They were not drawing any allowances that could violate the office of profit. Similarly, Sawant can continue occupying the post. We have directed the department concerned to not extend Sawant any facilities until further decision,” said an official from the CMO. Another official said the government would seek legal opinion on the issue.

Meanwhile, Sawant told HT: “There is no question of my resignation, as I had not received an appointment letter to the post of chair of parliamentary coordination committee. Any work that will be done by me in the capacity will not be monetarily compensated. What is the need for that?”

Sudhir Mungantiwar, BJP MLA, said, “If there is any violation of law while making the two appointments in question, we will raise the question in Vidhan Sabha. We have asked experts to check the legality and once the report comes we will take our stand.” When asked about similar appointments in the previous BJP-led state government, he said, “If such a mistake happened at the hands of BJP, it is because we did not know the law. The mistake went unnoticed because no one took objection or pointed it out to us. That does not mean the current government is allowed to make the same mistake.”