Govt plans new law on MPs holding office of profit to meet current needs

The government plans to repeal a 65-year-old law which lays the ground for disqualification of MPs for holding office of profit and bring a new one which is in sync with present requirements.

The legislative department of the Union law ministry has floated the draft 'Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Bill, 2024' prepared on the lines of recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Offices of Profit (JCOP) then headed by Kalraj Mishra in the 16th Lok Sabha.

The proposed bill seeks to rationalise section 3 of the existing Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 and to remove the negative list of offices provided in the schedule containing offices, the holders of which would incur disqualification.

It also proposes to remove the conflict between the existing Act and certain other statutes which have an express provision for not to incur disqualification.

The draft bill also proposes to omit section 4 of the existing law relating to "temporary suspension" of disqualification in certain cases, and in its place empower the central government to amend the schedule by issuing a notification.

Seeking views of the public on the draft bill, the department recalled that The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 was enacted to declare that certain offices of profit under the government will not disqualify the holders for being chosen as, or for being, a member of Parliament.

However, the Act contains both the aspects of enumerating the offices, the holder of which would not incur disqualification and those offices the holders of which would incur disqualification.

Parliament has, from time to time, amended the Act.

During the l6th Lok Sabha, the JCOP undertook a comprehensive review of the law and submitted a report.

The committee stressed on the need for the law ministry to take into account obsolete entries in the present law.

One of its key recommendation was to have a "comprehensive definition" of the term 'offices of profit'.

It also proposed simplification of language and formatting.

The members nominated in various flagship schemes and programmes, such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission, Deen Dayal Upadhyay-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, and other programmes should be "saved from incurring disqualification", it had recommended.