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Kalam signs Office of Profit Bill

Sujay Mehdudia

Big relief for 18 Congress MLAs facing disqualification These MLAs had been asked to appear for final hearing before the EC on September 27, 28 and 29 separately

NEW DELHI: In a major relief to 18 Congress MLAs faced with the threat of disqualification for holding offices of profit, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Monday gave his assent to the Members of Delhi Legislative Assembly Disqualification (Amendment Bill), 2006.

All the MLAs were facing disqualification proceedings at the hands of the Election Commission of India and had been asked to appear for final hearing before the Commission on September 27, 28 and 29 separately. The petition for their disqualification had been filed by the BJP MLA from Saket, Vijay Jolly, on March 28 with Dr. Kalam seeking disqualification of the 18 Congress MLAs and one Member of Parliament from Delhi for holding offices of profit and benefiting from their appointments to various Boards and Corporations in the Capital.

The lone MP, Sajjan Kumar, got a reprieve after the Centre passed legislation last month.

In his 31-page petition to Dr. Kalam, Mr. Jolly stated that under Article 191 (1) (a) of the Constitution these MLAs invite disqualification because of their appointments and for holding offices of profit under the Delhi Government. He alleged that in order to subvert the Constitutional provisions, the Delhi Government had set up two-tier structure consisting of an apex committee at the Delhi Government level and nine District Development Committees (DDC). The nominated MLAs on such committees received salaries, allowances, use of Government vehicles and incurred huge expenditure running into crores of rupees while holding offices of profit.

Prominent among the MLAs who faced disqualification were the Chief Minister's Parliamentary Secretary Nasib Singh; Trans-Yamuna Board Chairman Narendra Nath; Central Zone District Development Committee Chairperson Anjali Rai; and Delhi Wakf Board Chairman Mateen Ahmed. The nine DDC chairmen included Rajesh Jain, Brahmpal, Ashok Ahuja, Kanwar Karan Singh, Balram Singh Tanwar, Rajesh Lilothia, Vijay Lochav, Vir Singh Dhingan and Anjali Rai. The petition also named MLAs who held these positions in 2004 including Mahabal Mishra, Bhisham Sharma, Kiran Walia, Bijender Singh, Amrish Gautam and Tajdar Babbar.

Fearing that the ruling party MLAs could face disqualification and the Delhi Government could be reduced to a minority status, the Delhi Government, after clearance from the Union Government, had convened a special session of the Assembly on May 18 and passed the legislation to prevent disqualification of its legislators. However, due to uncertainty over the fate of the legislation and objections raised by Dr. Kalam to the Central legislation, the fate of all these MLAs kept hanging in balance.

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