Karnataka - Gulbarga   

JPC on Office of Profit Bill to submit final report soon

GULBARGA: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Office of Profit Bill is likely to submit the final report during the winter session of Parliament, which is likely to begin from August 11.

The JPC, headed by Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi, MP for Gulbarga, has so far visited 12 States and sought the opinion of the governments there.

The JPC also held discussions with legal luminaries and constitutional experts in New Delhi and at other places.

Sources in the JPC said that the committee had completed the task of eliciting the views of State governments and Union Territories, and as far as the States which the committee could not visit, representatives of the State governments were called to New Delhi.

The JPC had its last sitting in Hyderabad a couple of days back, and it is likely to have one or two more sittings before finalising the draft recommendations.

The JPC would have discussions with officials of the Law Ministry before drafting its recommendations, which would be placed in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

There has been no unanimity among State governments on the Office of Profit Bill.

Some of the States felt that it would be difficult to define what was office of profit, and it would have to be interpreted on the basis of views held by the Election Commission and verdicts pronounced by courts.

However, the sources said that a majority of the States were of the view that their laws should be continued.

The sources said that many States, however, stressed the need for uniformity on which posts should come under the purview of the Office of Profit law and a suitable amendment should be made in the Constitution. Another issue that came up during the discussions with the State governments was whether a committee should be established to advise and guide the elected representatives before they accepted an office, the sources pointed out.

The consensus was that if there was no monetary or pecuniary interest or if an office did not have judicial or executive powers, such offices should not be brought under the purview of the Office of Profit law.

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