Full Text Of The Bill

Bill No. 44 of 2006

THE PARLIAMENT (PREVENTION OF DISQUALIFICATION)AMENDMENT BILL, 2006

A

BILL
further to amend the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

1. Short Title

This Act may be called the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification)Amendment Act, 2006.

2. Amendment of Section 3

In section 3 of the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959(hereinafter referred to as the principal Act),—

(i) after clause (ac), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—

"(ad) the office of the Chairperson of the National Advisory Councilconstituted by the Government of India in the Cabinet Secretariat vide OrderNo. 631/2/1/2004-Cab., dated the 31st May, 2004;";

(ii) after clause (j) and before Explanation 1, the following clauses shall beinserted and shall be deemed to have been inserted with effect from the 4th day ofApril, 1959, namely:—

"(k) the office of Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary or Member(by whatever name called) in any statutory or non-statutory body specifiedin the Table;

(l) the office of Chairperson or trustee (by whatever name called) ofany Trust, whether public or private, not being a body specified in theSchedule;

(m) the office of Chairman, President, Vice-President or PrincipalSecretary or Secretary of the Governing Body of any society registeredunder the Societies Registration Act, 1860 or under any other law relating toregistration of societies, not being a body specified in the Schedule.".

3. Insertion of New Table

After the Schedule to the principal Act, the following Table shall be insertedand shall be deemed to have been inserted with effect from the 4th day of April, 1959,namely:—

[See section 3(k)]

1. The Tripura Khadi and Village Industries Board, a body constituted under theTripura Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1966.

2. The Uttar Pradesh Development Council.

3. The Irrigation and Flood Control Commission, Uttar Pradesh.

4. The Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta.

5. The West Bengal Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited.

6. The West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation Limited.

7. The West Bengal Industries Development Corporation Limited.

8. The Sriniketan Santiniketan Development Authority, a body constituted underthe West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979 (WestBengal Act No. 13 of 1979).

9. The Haldia Development Authority, a body constituted under the West BengalTown and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979 (West Bengal Act No.13 of 1979).

10. The West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation, a bodyconstituted under the West Bengal Minorities Development and FinanceCorporation Act, 1995.

11. The Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners, constituted under the Hooghly RiverBridge Act, 1969 (West Bengal Act No. 36 of 1969).

12. The Board of Wakf, West Bengal, a body constituted under the Wakf Act, 1995 (43of 1995).

13. The West Bengal Fisheries Development Corporation Limited.

14. The West Bengal State Haj Committee, constituted under the Haj Committee Act,2002 (35 of 2002).

15. The Asansol Durgapur Development Authority, West Bengal, a body constitutedunder the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979(West Bengal Act No. 13 of 1979).

16. The West Bengal Pharmaceutical and Phytochemical Development CorporationLimited.

17. The West Bengal Powerloom and Handloom Development Corporation Limited.

18. The West Bengal Khadi and Village Industry Board.

19. The Society for Self-employment for Urban Youth, a society registered under theWest Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961 (West Bengal Act No. 26 of 1961).

20. The Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams Board.

21. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, anauthority constituted under section 4 of the Agricultural and Processed FoodProducts Export Development Authority Act, 1985 (2 of 1986).

22. The National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Limited(NAFED).

23. The Indian Farmer Fertilizers Co-operative Limited (IFFCO).

24. The Krishak Bharati Co-operative Limited (KRIBHCO).

25. The National Co-operative Consumers Federation of India Limited (NCCF).

26. The Auroville Foundation established under sub-section (1) of section 10 of theAuroville Foundation Act, 1988 (54 of 1988).

27. The National Commission of Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector.

28. The Planning Board (Asiatic Society) established under sub-section (1) of section8 of the Asiatic Society Act, 1984 (5 of 1984).

29. The Delhi Rural Development Board.

30. The Maulana Azad Education Foundation.

31. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.

32. The Dr. Ambedkar Foundation.

33. The Bihar State Religious Trust Board.

34. The Research and Information System for the Non-Aligned and Other DevelopingCountries.

35. The Indian Institute of Psychometry.

36. The Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Bank.

37. The Uttar Pradesh Provincial Co-operative Federation.

38. The Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Federation Limited.

39. The National Co-operative Union of India.

40. The Uttar Pradesh Krishi and Gram Vikas Bank.

41. The Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Bank Limited.

42. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

43. The Board of Control—A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna.

44. All India Council for Sports.

45. The Howrah Improvement Trust.".

4. Special Provision as to validation and other matters

(1) Notwithstanding any judgment or order of any court or tribunal or any orderor opinion of any other authority, the offices mentioned in clauses (ad), (k), (l) and (m)of section 3 of the principal Act shall not disqualify or shall be deemed never to havedisqualified the holders thereof for being chosen as, or for being, a member of eitherHouse of Parliament as if the principal Act as amended by this Act had been in force atall material times.

(2) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall be construed as to entitle anyperson who has vacated a seat owing to any order or judgment as aforesaid, to claimany re-instatement or any other claim in that behalf.

(3) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that any petition or referencepending before any court or other authority on the date of commencement of this Act,shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the principal Act, as amendedby this Act.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

Article 102(1)(a) of the Constitution provides that a person shall be disqualified forbeing chosen as and for being a member of either House of Parliament if he holds an office ofprofit under the Government of India or Government of State other than an office declared byParliament by law not to disqualify its holder. In pursuance of this, the Parliament (Preventionof Disqualification) Act, 1959 was enacted by Parliament to exempt certain offices, holding ofwhich will otherwise subject the holder of such office to disqualification.

2. Under the existing legal framework, the way to exempt the holder of an office whichconfers executive, judicial or legislative powers or which entitles the holder to draw anyallowance other than compensatory allowance is to exempt such office by making a specificlegislative provision to that effect. In addition to the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification)Act, 1959, several other Acts of Parliament such as, the Coffee Act, 1942, the Rubber Act,1947 and the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992, creating Authorities or Bodies inwhich Members of Parliament are represented, contain a specific provision to the effect thatsuch offices will not disqualify the holder on the ground that he is holding an office of profit.

3. Any question as to disqualification are decided in the case of pre-election disputesby the courts through the election petition and post-election disputes by the ElectionCommission under articles 102 and 192 of the Constitution. Recently, it has become necessaryto revisit the issue of disqualification of Members of Parliament on the basis of holding anoffice of profit. This has been necessitated due to recent developments where approximately40 or more Members from both Houses of Parliament are holding offices of Chairman ormembers of various statutory and non-statutory bodies and are facing disqualificationproceedings on the ground that they are holding an office of profit. If this state of affairs isallowed to continue then there is bound to be large scale litigation and the likely vacation ofseats in both the Houses of Parliament, which will necessitate the holding of bye-elections tofill up the resultant vacancies. This will be a wasteful expenditure and will enforce unnecessaryfinancial burden upon the nation.

4. In view thereof, it is proposed to include certain offices in the Parliament (Preventionof Disqualification) Act, 1959, so as to exempt the holders of such offices from incurringdisqualification.

5. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects. 

HANS RAJ BHARDWAJ. 
NEW DELHI;
The 11th May, 2006.

LOK SABHA

ABILLfurther to amend the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959.
(Shri Hans Raj Bhardwaj, Minister of Law and Justice)