LS passes office of profit Bill

A Bill that provides for exempting 46 posts, including the National Advisory Council chairmanship, from the purview of the office of profit was passed by the Lok Sabha today.

Strongly opposing the Bill, Leader of Opposition LK Advani announced the NDA would mount an offensive against the Bill, which was against the spirit of the Constitution, even outside the House.

After trying to stall the introduction of the Bill, the BJP walked out of the House.

Advani accused the government of 'bulldozing' the measure. Objecting to the inclusion of the NAC chairman in the exemption list, Advani said Sonia Gandhi as NAC chief had become a 'super prime minister'.

He said, "Everyone agreed that the office of the PM has been devalued and diminished."

Advani contended that if the NAC post was to be exempted, then the government should have come out with a Constitution amendment instead of a simple Bill, as the post was 'virtually a constitutional office'.

Contesting this, Law Minister HR Bhardwaj said the NAC chairmanship was not a constitutional office. "It is not even a statutory office," he said, adding Advani had "lack of knowledge of parliamentary law".

Leader of the House and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee refuted Advani's charge that he was not consulted on the measure. Gandhi was not present in the House when the Opposition raised procedural issues.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who has been charged with holding an office of profit, did not preside over the House.

Bhardwaj said the proposed legislation would put in place a system to clarify what an office of profit meant. Emphasising that everyone's suggestions had been heeded, he said the government had no animus against anybody, but lashed out at the Opposition for attacking Sonia.

"We have respect for everyone, every political leader. But still our leader is attacked," the minister said.

Amid thumping of desks by the treasury benches, he said the Congress president had shown ethical and moral values and principles which were lacking in others.

Within the NDA, a section led by Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav argued that when the governments were fragile coalitions, they needed to accommodate all prominent MLAs.

The JD(U) chief advocated that even if they were not given any salaries or perks, the legislators should be allowed to hold certain offices for the stability of such governments.