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Indian Polity & Governance

Topic
Office of Profit

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Office of Profit

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Clause (a) of Article 102 of the Constitution of India says a person

shall be disqualified for
Election as a member of Parliament and
for being (continuing) a member of either house of Parliament
If he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or
the Government of any State. However, other than an office declared
by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder.

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The aim of the provision is toprevent conflict of interest between the members of parliament and
the executive. To explain, the job of the MP is to hold the executive
answerable which he can not do if he is himself a part of the executive.
secure independence of the MPs. It is not possible if the legislator is a
member of the executive.
ensure that Parliament does not contain persons who have received
favours or benefits from the executive and who consequently might be
amenable to its influence.

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The exemption from the definition of office

of profit However,

has been done by Parliament on a case by case and ad hoc

basis and not on the basis of any universal definition. In fact there is
neither a Constitutional nor statutory definition of office of profit One
source of clarity on the expression are the rulings of courts. Another
source
are
the
Election
Commission
rulings.
On

the recommendations of the JPC, it is the Parliament that declares

whether an office is non-profit or otherwise. Parliament may do so with
retrospective application, according to the Supreme Court verdict in
Kanta vs. Menak Chandra case 1970.

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The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification)

Amendment Act 2006

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Parliament passed the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification)

Amendment Bill, 2006.
The primary aim of the Bill was to shield the MPs holding offices that
could be interpreted as office of profit. It did so by declaring that these
offices were not offices of profit.
The Bill allowed MPs to continue their membership in Parliament even
while holding the offices that were alleged to be offices of profit another
point is that the Bill gave retrospective effect to the offices contained in it
from 1959. The Bill exempts 56 positions held by 40 members of
Parliament.

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