The Election Commission has ruled that 22 Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLAs in Odisha, who were appointed as chairpersons of district planning committees and special development councils and who held minister-of-state status, have been acquitted of charges of holding of office of profit.
The EC on Monday said on its website that under statutory law, 20 of the 22 MLAs were exempted from disqualification while two others had resigned from office before becoming lawmakers.
The EC gave its ruling following a reference from Odisha governor Ganeshi Lal last month.
In July, the Orissa high court had directed the governor to dispose of a plea seeking the disqualification of the 22 BJD MLAs for holding office of profit.
A two-judge bench comprising chief justice S Muralidhar and justice SK Panigrahi, while adjudicating a plea by petitioner Samarendra Beura, had asked the Odisha governor to dispose the petition by November 8 in which it was alleged that the lawmakers were liable to be disqualified under Article 191(1)(a) of the Constitution.
According to Article 191(1)(a), a person will be disqualified for being chosen as a member of the legislative assembly or legislative council if they hold any office of profit under the central government or the government of any state.
{{/usCountry}}According to Article 191(1)(a), a person will be disqualified for being chosen as a member of the legislative assembly or legislative council if they hold any office of profit under the central government or the government of any state.
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To get around it, the state government in 2016 enacted the Odisha Offices of Profit (Removal of Disqualifications) Amendment Act to declare that MLAs who are appointed as chairpersons of district planning committees, special development councils and the Western Odisha Development Council won’t be disqualified as MLAs.
However, Beura, in his petition before the high court, argued that the 22 MLAs in question were given minister-of-state status, which allowed them to get monetary advantage.
He alleged that the MLAs, by virtue of being ministers of state, drew sumptuary allowance, daily allowance, and travelling allowance, while also availing of accommodation and vehicles provided by the government.
Beura cited the Brundaban Nayak vs Election Commission of India case in 1965, saying the Supreme Court had ruled that complaints under Article 192 of the Constitution seeking disqualification of MLAs must be disposed of as expeditiously as possible.
According to the process, the governor has to obtain the opinion of the EC and dispose of his applications within a prescribed period.