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OoP Bill exempts NAC chief post
Seeking to end the political row, Govt proposes to exempt 46 posts across political spectrum, including the NAC chairmanship.
Seeking to end the political row, government proposes to exempt 46 posts across the political spectrum, including the National Advisory Council Chairmanship and Sriniketan-Santiniketan Development Authority held by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, from the purview of office of profit, which threatened Parliament membership of several key leaders.
Apart from NAC chairmanship, an issue over which Congress president Sonia Gandhi resigned and got re-elected from Rae Bareli, and Sriniketan-Santiniketan Development Authority, the offices sought to be excluded include UP Development Council headed by Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and the now-defunct All India Council of Sports earlier headed by BJP leader VK Malhotra with retrospective effect.
The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill 2006 for further amending 1959 Act, which is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday for passage during the current session which concludes on May 23, was on Sunday circulated among MPs by Law Minister HR Bharadwaj.
The government has said it would hold discussions with all political parties to evolve a consensus on the issue.
The inclusion of the post held by Opposition leaders is an indication that the government was keen on a consensus on the contentious issue.
About 40 MPs, many of them from Left parties extending crucial support to the UPA government, and 200 MLAs are facing disqualification petitions in the wake of the disqualification of Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan on the office of profit issue.
The Election Commission had last week dismissed a petition against Malhotra on the grounds that it was a pre-election disqualification and hence did not come under its purview.
The Bill provides a specific clause for excluding the office of the chairperson of NAC constituted by the Cabinet Secretariat on May 31, 2004.
It lists 45 other posts in a separate clause. The posts include the post of the chairperson of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), the president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations and chairperson of the Delhi Rural Development Board.
Kapila Vatsyayan, Karan Singh and Sajjan Kumar, who headed these bodies, have already tendered their resignations from the posts.
The Bill also seeks to exempt Chairmen, deputy chairmen, secretaries or members in any statutory or non-statutory body or trustees of any Trust, whether public or private, chairman, president, vice president or Principal Secretary of the governing body of any society registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 or under any other law relating to registration of societies.
Incidentally, Sonia Gandhi also was Chairperson of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
The Opposition BJP has been opposed to dilution of the spirit of Article 102, 103 of the Constitution pertaining to the office-of-profit.
It has also been opposed to any bill with retrospective effect. The party has also demanded abolition of NAC.
In order to ensure that the Chairperson of the NAC is exempted, the measure proposes to insert a certain clause in section three of the 1959 Act.
The Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams Board, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations are among 46 organisations exempted under the proposed law.
Vatsyayan, who was nominated to the Upper House by the President, has since tendered her resignation.
The 46 organisations included 14 from West Bengal alone, many of which are headed by CPI(M) MPs whose party is a key outside supporter of the Congress-led coalition at the Centre.
The Trinamool Congress had petitioned the President seeking the disqualification of ten CPI(M) MPs, including the Lok Sabha Speaker.
