Left sees no difficulty in implementation of Office of Profit Bill

New Delhi, May 30 (UNI) The Left parties tonight said they foresaw no difficulty in the implementation of the Office of Profit Bill, even as President A P J Abdul Kalam returned the legislation to Parliament for reconsideration.

Leaders of the CPI, CPI(M) and Forward Bloc, while talking to UNI, said the government had the option of sending reply to the President's queries on whether the Bill would be implemented in all the states and on the reasons why it had been passed with retrospective effect.

CPI veteran and party floor leader in the Lok Sabha Gurudas Dasgupta said, ''Even if the Bill comes back to Parliament in the monsoon session, it will be passed unanimously.'' Mr Dasgupta said the Bill will be implemented across the country in all the states and that its passage was necessitated because of the ambiguity in the definition of office of profit, both in the Constitution and the law.

''The Parliament is supreme. Any intervention in its role is not appropriate, '' he added.

President A P J Abdul Kalam tonight refused to give assent to and returned the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill which was passed by both the Houses on May 17 during the extended budget session, objecting to its coming into force with retrospective effect.

Dr Kalam also wanted to know if the criteria used to identify the offices of profit throughout the states and Union territories were fair and reasonable.

CPI(M) party group leader in the Lok Sabha, Basudeb Acharia maintained that the President was competent and could return the Bill, but the government could easily reply to all his queries.

''I do not forsee any difficulty in the implementation of the Bill as proper procedure has been followed in its passage in Parliament.'' While observing that the development was unfortunate, Forward Bloc National Secretary G Devrajan said, ''The passage of the bill was necessitated because the members off Parliament served as office bearers on various boards as elected representatives in the larger public interest.'' He added that the Left parties, who are holding a joint meeting here day after tomorrow, will dicuss the issue threadbare.

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