The Office of Profit Bill comes back

A few months ago, The Queen of India resigned from office because her office of profit gameplan to catch opposition politicians backfired. This supreme sacrifice was hailed by all and sundry, and the revered Lady's saintliness was furthered strengthened in the minds of the Congress worker ants.

However, behind the scenes, as we all who can see, followed the entire ridiculousness, the Con'gress government was working overtime to bring about a bill in the Parliament that would exclude many of the existing positions that are counted as office of profit. This bill was supported by all the netas of the land, and rightly so, because the Parliament is a place where politicians go to make laws for themselves, by themselves, and of themselves.

So once this Office of Profit bill was passed by the lower House, it was sent to the President for approval, but horror of horrors, the President has sent the bill back! From my vague memory of civics lessons, if the Lower House sends it back to him, even without making any changes, the President will have to pass it into a law. Such is the power of the Constitution. And that is exactly what has happened. The government does not care about the President, or what he thinks of their laws. Heres a time tested theorem, an Indian politician will act only when his/her own ass is on the line. So you can understand that it is imperative for the netas to bring about this law so they can augment their steller resumes with jobs in various organizations where they will do jack shit.

'Un'profitable bomb explodes in govt face
In a dampner on efforts to exempt a number of posts from the purview of Office of Profit, President A P J Abdul Kalam today returned the Bill on the issue for reconsideration by both houses of Parliament.

The criteria should be fair and reasonable and can be applied across all states and union territories in a clear and transparent manner, he said in his communication while returning the Bill that was passed in the just-concluded budget session of Parliament.

The other point on which the President is said to have reservation was about the propriety of applying the law with retrospective effect. He wants this also to be considered afresh, the sources said.

In the bill that was passed, 56 posts, including that of National Advisory Council Chairpersonhip, a post earlier held by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, were exempted from the definition of office of profit.

Unfazed by the President's action in returning the Bill, the government on Wednesday said it will re-present the legislation that seeks to exempt several posts from being considered office of profit in Parliament in the coming monsoon session and the Cabinet will decide on Thursday whether it should be in the ‘present form or amended form’.

Dismissing suggestions that the action of the President was a ‘setback’ to the government, he said this was part of the democratic process, which has various checks and balances.
Besides, he said, if Parliament approved the measure in its present form, then the President would have to give his assent.
----------------------------------------------------------------

These shameless, shameless monkeys. When God was handing out integrity, these clowns were busy playing with each others balls. Most of the positions to be exempted are occupied by current cronies in Con'gress and the Chinese Puppet party. A large dollop of brazen democracy anyone?

UPA loses face over Bill to save skin

Not only does this bring back the shadow of disqualification over several key MPs from the Congress and the Left, it also deeply embarrasses the government and its allies.

The Bill exempted a slew of posts from the “office-of-profit” clause, listing 45 posts, most of them occupied by Congress and Left MPs. Sources said the President asked Parliament to re-examine “the legal propriety” of retrospectively relaxing the norms for posts that violated the old clause (in 1959 Bill).

The President is also said to have expressed the view that “there should be comprehensive criteria (in the Bill) which should be applicable through the country in all states in a clear and transparent manner.”

Thirdly, Kalam wanted lawmakers to specify the implications of the Bill in terms of the several office-of-profit petitions pending before “competent authorities”—in other words, the Election Commission.

There are petitions against 43 MPs, including Speaker Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Ministers Meira Kumar, T Subbirami Reddy, and against 216 MLAs.

The Damage, The Control

Why The President Disposed
• How can you apply it with effect from 1959?
• Need to define transparent criteria
• Why not have a comprehensive Bill that applies to all states

Pass it again, says Left

• Congress: Already facing quota heat, this is more egg on its face
• UPA: Manmohan likely to meet Kalam today to clarify questions raised so that Bill doesn’t need to be re-voted
• Left: Advance monsoon session, pass the Bill and send it back to President, said Basudeb Acharia, Lok Sabha leader
• BJP: Said Arun Jaitley: EC should “step in and disqualify people who held offices of profit...Unconstitutionality was writ large on this legislation. Only some faces were being protected. The law itself was not in the interest of Parliament, nor any public interest was served by it.’’

What Next

• Special session of House to pass Bill again; NDA will strongly object
• Brand new Bill incorporating Kalam’s suggestions
• EC has to start looking at complaints
• Question mark over status of cases in court now that Bill is stuck