Rajya Sabha passes controversial Office of Profit bill

New Delhi, July 27: The controversial office of profit Bill which exempts 56 posts, including that of National Advisory Council (NAC) chairperson, from being deemed offices of profit, was again passed by the Rajya Sabha today after President APJ Abdul Kalam had returned it to Parliament for reconsideration.

The Bill was cleared in the form, in which it had been passed earlier by Parliament.

The Opposition BJP asked for division in which 98 votes were cast in favour of the Bill and 49 against.

Earlier, all amendments moved by BJP Members, including Ms Sushma Swaraj and Mr Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinamool Congress were rejected.

The Bill, titled 'Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendement Bill 2006, was passed after four hours of heated discussion.

Earlier pased by Parliament in its last session, the Bill was sent to the President for his assent on May 25. But he sent it back with a message that it should be reconsidered for inclusion of a ''comprehensive and generic'' criteria.

''The criteria should be 'fair and reasonable' and applicable in a 'clear and transparent' manner across the states and Union Territories,'' he said.

The Bill, returned by the President for reconsideration, was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on July 25 under Article 111 of the Constitution.

The Office of Profit controversy had originatyed in mid-March with the disqualification of Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan on the ground of her holding an office of profit in heading the Uttar Pradesh Film Development Corporation, following which the Opposition targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi over her heading the National Advisory Council (NAC).

The issue finally led to Ms Gandhi's resignation and later re-election to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency. Ms Gandhi had also resigned as NAC chairperson.

All these developments led the government to introduce the legislation to exempt certain posts from the purview of the office of profit. The Bill was finally passed in the budget session of Parliament and sent to the President. But he returned it with a message for considering certain points.

While returning the Bill to Parliament, another important point raised by the President was in relation to the posts sought to be exempted by the new law, which implied that the names of offices, for which petitions were already pending with the competent authority, should be addressed by Parliament while reconsidering the Bill.

Earlier, replying to the debate on the Bill in the Rajya Sabha today, Law Minister H R Bhardwaj said the government meant no disrespect to the President in seeking to pass the Bill.

''The president has suggested no amendment in the Bill. He has raised certain points like upholding public probity and ethical values in public life, from which there was no question of disagrement,'' he said.

Citing various court judgements and rulings by legal experts, he said there were no limitations on the legislature powers of Parliament and also there was no bar on its legislating with retrospective effect.

''The Parliament has full jurisdiction to declare any office as not office of profit,'' Mr Bhardwaj added.

He said that after the Bill was passed, a Committee can be constituted to go deeper in the issue of the office of profit, based on which a comprehensive legislation could be brought up.

Later, moving amendments to the Bill, Ms Sushma Swaraj of the BJP objected to the manner in which the Bill was brought up, postponing discussion on Mumabi blasts.

''It is unfortunate that discussion on such an important matter was relegated in favour of a matter that affected the fortunes of only a few,'' she said.

UNI