Now, UPA goes slow on Ordinance

Now that Sonia Gandhi is no longer a member of Parliament holding an office of profit, the UPA government's urgency to bring an Ordinance to legalise her position appears to have diminished.

Indications are that an all-party conference might be convened to discuss the matter and seek codification of offices of profit as all parties are affected.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Priyaranjan Dasmunshi refused to confirm whether the government was considering bringing an Ordinance to exempt several posts from being defined as offices of profit, but added that "in a parliamentary democracy, amendment of law is not unconstitutional".

He said in the last few days, the government had received representations from several MPs asking for a clear definition of an office of profit and added that the Constitution provided for exemptions in several cases. "Several state governments have exercised this prerogative," he said.

"The first such representation received by the law ministry was from Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh," Dasmunshi said.

Government sources confirmed that the government might call an all-party meeting on the issue. "Unlike popular perception, the list of MPs accused of holding offices of profit have few Congress names. Therefore, the fear that the government may fall on this issue is false," said a senior minister.

According to a representation by the Trinamool Congress to the President, 10 MPs, mostly from West Bengal, hold offices of profit. These are Somnath Chatterjee, who in addition to being the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, is also chairman of the Shantiniketan Development Authority and president of the Asiatic Society.

Mohammad Salim (CPI-M MP) is chairman of the West Bengal Minorities Finance and Development Corporation and a member of the governing body of the West Bengal Urdu Academy.

Hannan Mollah (CPI-M) is the chairman of the West Bengal Wakf Board and a member of the Central Wakf Council. Lakshman Seth is the chairman of the Haldia Development Authority while Amitava Nandi, a Lok Sabha MP, is vice-chairman of the West Bengal State Fisheries Development Corporation.

Sudhanshu Sil (MP) is chairman of the Mallick Ghat Phool Byabasai Samity, Taruit Baran Topdar is a member of the high-powered committee on handlooms and Bansagopal Chowdhury is chairman of the Asansol-Durgapur Development Authority. Sujan Chakraborty is the chairman of the West Bengal State Pharmaceutical Corporation and Nilotpal Basu, a Rajya Sabha MP, is a member of the West Bengal State Gramin Sanchay Society.

In addition to Sonia Gandhi, recently elected Rajya Sabha MPs Karan Singh and Kapila Vatsyayan also hold offices of profit, as does T Subbirami Reddy, who is chairman of the Tirupati Devastanam Trust, according to a representation by the Telugu Desam Party to the President.