Parliament taken for ride, says BJP member

New Delhi, July 31: Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj today told the Lok Sabha that in the absence of clear cut guidelines to define what constitutes office of profit, a status quo continues and evolving a comprehensive criterion for the same is a challenging task.

Moving for consideration the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill already passed by the Rajya Sabha, he said ascertaining the view of all political parties would facilitate evolving a comprehensive criterion to define what constitutes office of profit.

Mr Bhardwaj also read out the message sent by the President A P J Abdul Kalam while returning the Office of Profit Bill for reconsideration.

Initiating discussion on the Bill, Mr Anantha Kumar (BJP) opposed the Bill, saying undue haste was being shown in getting the Bill passed again with scant respect to the President. He said he happened to be a member of the Parliament Joint Committee on Office of Profit which was already in existence, but this Bill was not referred to the Committee. He wondered when the Committee was already there why the question of exemption of 55 posts from the purview of office of profit was not referred to it. He charged that Parliament was thereby being taken for a ride.

Mr Anantha Kumar charged the Law Minister with bungling the question of probity in public life involved in the issue and said it was a clear case of doublespeak. ''You are acting contrary to the views of the President,'' he said, adding no consideration was being given to the views of the President who returned the Bill.

He also charged the Law Minister with misleading Parliament and the country by stating that the NAC Chairperson post should be exempted from the office of profit as the Chairperson advises the NGOs. ''Is the Government an NGO?'' he asked. He wondered why NAC was included in the list of 55 posts when the Minister had already stated that it was not an office of profit.

Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said the Opposition debate on the issue of Office of Profit was ''Sonia-centric and not based on principle''. ''You don't want Congress President Sonia Gandhi to be the chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC), he said. He accused the Opposition of using the office of profit issue as an ''opportunity to file litigation for profit. ''The bill was brought forward only to defeat the Opposition move from getting profitted politically.'' On the suggestion of President A P J Abdul Kalam to evolve a generic and comprehensive criteria applicable to all states and union territories, Mr Sibal, an eminent lawyer, said ''it is difficult to apply such a law across all parts of India.'' He said the Office of Profit bill passed by Parliament was in respect to those specific posts held by the MPs. ''Therefore, it is not possible to exclude any specific posts from the purview of office of profit. What is possible is to exclude only such specific posts held by the MPs.'' Mr Sibal, whose speech was often interrupted by Opposition members plunging the house into disorder, said it was also difficult to have a definition of ''office of profit''. In this context, he pointed out that ''many expressions in constitutional law are incapable of definition and the office of profit is one such.'' On the query of the President regarding implication of including for exemption the names of offices in relation to which petition for disqualification is pending before the competent authority, he said the legislation passed by Parliament clearly stated that such petitions could be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the existing act.

UNI