President to take time on Office-of-Profit Bill

New Delhi, Aug 3: President A P J Abdul Kalam is likely to take his own time for coming to a conclusion on the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Bill, 2006, which has been sent back to him for his assent.

Official sources said the proposed Act, which has come to be known as the office of profit Bill, was sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan after its passage in the Lok Sabha on July 31 and in the Rajya Sabha on July 27.

Though the sources were tight-lipped about the options before the President, they would not rule out another round of consultations with legal experts as the Constitution had not prescribed any time limit for giving assent to a Bill, sent back to him.

The President had returned the Bill to the government on May 30, asking it to have it reconsidered by Parliament, particularly the logic behind exempting from the purview of disqualification with retrospective effect 56 offices held by MPs against whom disqualification petitions were pending.

The Manmohan Singh government considered the President's views at a Cabinet meeting, but decided to have it passed again by Parliament.

The office of profit controversy had arisen following the disqualification of Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan for holding an office of profit in the form of Chairperson of the UP Film Development Council.

This triggered a spate of similar complaints against MPs, including Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Ms Gandhi, however, quit her Lok Sabha seat and got re-elected from Rae Bareli. Ms Bachchan has also been re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.

UNI

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