NDA urges Kalam to refer Office of Profit Bill to SC

New Delhi, July 24 (UNI) The Opposition NDA today urged President A P J Abdul Kalam to seek the opinion of Supreme Court regarding the Office of Profit Bill under Article 143 of the Constitution as the UPA Government had decided to pass it in Parliament without any changes.

A delegation of NDA leaders, led by Leaders of Opposition L K Advani and Jaswant Singh, Convenor George Fernandes and members of several NDA parties, said the President had returned the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2006 to ensure compliance with Article 102 of the Constitution that mandates against elected members of Parliament holding office of profit.

The concerns expressed by Dr Kalam remain unattended as the government had decided to bring back the bill as it is and the consequences of this would be that there would be no uniformity in the whole country. A disqualification under Article 102 occurs the moment an MP occupies an office of profit.

The Constitution has to merely have a provision for declaration of the seat of that member as vacant and there should be no retrospective validation of gross illegality committed. ''The immunity is being provided to a large number of offices incurring consequences of disqualification, the constitution is being violated in letter and spirit,'' the leaders submitted in their memorandum at Rashtrapati Bhawan ahead of the commencement of the monsoon session of Parliament.

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