Govt to form Committee to define Office of Profit

New Delhi, July 24(UNI) While the Government will go ahead with bringing forward the Office of Profit Bill in its original form without any amendment,it will also form a committee to define the concept of Office of Profit,Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi announced today.

The Office of Profit Bill will be tabled in Parliament tomorrow, and it is likely to be taken up for discussion day after tomorrow, Mr Dasmunsi told reporters here .

He said the composition of the committee which will define Office of Profit will be announced by Law Minister H.R.Bharadwaj during his reply to the discussion on the Bill .

Mr Dasmunsi expressed his displeasure at the way the the NDA Opposition,led by Mr L.K.Advani,approached President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam to record their views even before the Office of Profit was discussed in Parliament and said Mr Advani was thereby seeking other avenues of taking up the matter rather than discussing it in Parliament.

Stating that the NDA-led Opposition had thereby pre-empted the Government move, Mr Dasmunsi said Mr Advani's action amounted to undermining the authority of Parliament and undermining the Cabinet system of functioning.

The Office of Profit Bill ,he pointed out,had been passed by Parliament,which is supreme.Within the Constitutional parameteres whatever messages the President had given to Parliament,it will be respectfully discussed in both the Houses, he said,adding"We will abide by the Parliamentary traditions without any confrontation." "If it was laid down in the Constitution that the Government would go entirely by what the President has said then there would have been no need for a Cabinet system and work would have been carried on like that,"Mr Dasmunsi said.

Mr Dasmunsi opined that in a cabinet system of functioning,the Council of Ministers may advise the President to make a reference to the Supreme Court on any issue.

UNI YS RP RN1810