Jaya Bachchan moves SC over RS membership

Jaya Bachchan, whose membership of the Rajya Sabha has been recommended for disqualification by the Election Commission, today moved the Supreme Court seeking clarification of the term "office of profit".

Bachchan, who was elected on a Samajwadi Party ticket, has in her application requested the court to clarify the term "office of profit" under the Centre or the state government.

She has sought to know under what situation or circumstance a person is deemed to be holding an office of profit with the Centre or a state government. Bachchan has filed an interim application in Shibu Soren's case in which the apex court had dealt with the term "office of profit".

In Soren's case, the court had held that for attracting the provisions of article 102 (1) (a) of the Constitution, the person concerned must hold an office under the Centre or any state government and it should be an "office of profit".

Further, the office should be other than an office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder. The apex court had held that with regard to the "office of profit", what needed to be found was, if the amount received by the person concerned from the office he/she holds provides some pecuniary gain, other than the compensation to defray his or her out of pocket expenses.

Bachchan was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha in June 2004.

Prior to her election, she had resigned from Uttar Pradesh Film Development Corporation. However, after the election she assumed the charge as chairperson of UPFDC on July 14, 2004.

The commission recommended Bachchan's disqualification on a petition by Congress' Madanmohan Shukla on the ground that she attracted disqualification because she held an office of profit as chairperson of UPFDC.