Have a great day.
Office of Profit
Bill, 2006
Former President of
India A P J Abdul Kalam was unhappy when his suggestion to rectify many
anomalies in the Office of Profit Bill, 2006, did not address it by the Joint
Parliamentary Committee.
In his latest book
titled “TURNING POINTS”, Kalam recalls when he had received a number of
complaints from MPs about certain fellow members holding office of profit.
As the controversy
surrounded Mrs Jaya Bachchan and Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Kalam recollects in his book
as to how there was tremendous pressure on him irrespective of party lines to
simply sign the Bill.
“…I received the
Office of Profit Bill from the Parliament for approval. I studied the Bill and
found that it had many anomalies. In the proposed Office of Profit Bill, I did
not find a systematic approach towards deciding the question of what
constituted an office of profit. Instead exception was given to only the
existing offices which were occupied by MPs,” Kalam narrated in his book.
Stating that he had
discussed the anomalies and his concerns with three former Chief Justices of
India, Kalam said he had suggested that the bill should clearly mention the
criteria for exempting a particular office from the provisions of the Office of
Profit Bill which should be ‘fair and reasonable’ and applicable in ‘clear and
transparent’ manner across the states and union territories.
“Another point which
I raised was in relation to the posts sought to be exempted by the new law. They
(CJIs) said my concern was genuine and proper guidelines were required for
determining whether a particular office comes within the purview of the Office
of Profit Bill or not.”
The book also says
how Kalam consulted the Constitution, vide Article 111, when the question came
up whether his letter pertaining to the Office of Profit Bill should go to the
Cabinet or to Parliament, which he had later returned the Bill to the secretary-general
of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for reconsideration by both the Houses of
Parliament.
“This was the first
time in the history of Parliament or Rashtrapati Bhavan that a president
returned a Bill for reconsideration,” says Kalam, adding “There was tremendous
pressure on me irrespective of party lines to simply sign the Bill.”
Kalam quoted from Manu
Smriti and the Hadith the reason behind the returning the Office of Profit
Bill----‘In Manu Smriti: ‘By accepting gifts, the divine light in the person
gets extinguished.’ A Hadith says, ‘When the Almighty appoints a person to a
position, He takes care of his provision. If a person takes anything beyond
that, it is an illegal gain.”
Recalling how Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh met him and informed Kalam that the Parliament has already
decided on the constitution of a Joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for going
into all aspects of the Office of Profit Bill as per the president’s
suggestions.
Kalam said he had
approved the bill as he was clear that the minimum requirement (constitution of
JPC) met.
“After a few months, Parliament
approved the JPC report which was not complete and did not address the problem
which I had suggested. Parliament has to deal with such issues with care,
otherwise it would be construed that the highest body of the nation is
promoting wrong practices which may set a national trend in different echelons
of the government,” Kalam’s book says.
Kalam says how the
return of the Office of Profit Bill clearly established how at the Parliament level,
practices that cannot meet the standards of public probity are not debated and
reviewed with the seriousness they deserve. “This can be considered as a
starting point for accepting wrong practices that will lead to compromises in
formulating and practising a national standard.”
---------------------------
