Kalam clears Office of Profit Bill

Following the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to arrive at a comprehensive definition of what constitutes an Office of Profit, President APJ Abdul Kalam signed the Prevention of Disqualification of MPs Bill, 2006.

The government today appeared to breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that the Bill, twice passed by Parliament, had finally cleared the last hurdle.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had met the President on this matter at least four times after the President had returned the Bill the first time after it was cleared by Parliament.

The President had said the current Bill did not provide for a comprehensive definition of what constitutes an office of profit, and would not be applicable to both the Centre and the states.

The Bill had been conceived in controversy after Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan had to quit her seat after a petition in the Election Commission found her guilty of occupying an office of profit as chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Film Development Corporation.

Fingers were soon raised at other MPs who allegedly occupied offices of profit including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was occupying the post of National Advisory Council (NAC) chairperson, and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Gandhi resigned both the post of NAC chairperson as well as her Lok Sabha seat and was subsequently re-elected from Rae Bareilly.

The Bill was then presented in the second part of the Budget session held in May. Senior government ministers say the prime minister's meeting with the President on August 15 proved to be decisive and the setting up of the JPC gave the right signal to the President that his concerns with regard to the Bill would be addressed.

"No government is comfortable with the fact that there is a Bill, twice passed by Parliament, which is pending with the President who has known views on it," said a senior minister.

It was a well-earned respite for the government after facing the heat on this issue and the Indo-US nuclear deal throughout the monsoon session of Parliament.