NEW DELHI: Law ministry has invited comments on draft legislation Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Bill, 2024, to replace the existing law of 1959 on office of profit. The bill proposes that holders of certain offices of profit will be exempted from being disqualified from becoming, or being, members of Parliament (MPs).
The bill has incorporated certain recommendations made by joint committee on offices of profit (JCOP), then headed by Kalraj Mishra in the 16th Lok Sabha. The committee has suggested that MPs nominated in various flagship schemes and programmes, such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission and Deen Dayal Upadhyay-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, should be saved from incurring disqualification.
The ministry said the 1959 Act was enacted to declare that certain offices of profit under govt shall not disqualify the holders thereof for being chosen as, or for being, an MP. The JCOP undertook a comprehensive review of the Act and submitted recommendations, which included comprehensive definition of ‘offices of profit’; insertion of provision to resolve the conflict between the Act and certain other statutes; omit the obsolete entries in the schedule; and amend the Act in a time-bound manner.
“Keeping in view of the aforesaid recommendations of the JCOP, it is felt by the legislative department to repeal and re-enact the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959. Accordingly, “A draft bill has been prepared on lines of the recommendations made by the JCOP,” the law ministry said. Besides rationalising section 3 of the existing Act, doing away with negative list of offices provided in the schedule, the draft bill proposes to remove conflict between the existing Act and certain other statutes, which have a 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 govt to amend the schedule by issuing a notification.