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Subject: Polity
Topic: 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.
The aim of the provision is to:
- prevent 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. However, there are exceptions. The classical example is that of a Minister. It cannot be avoided. The reason is that ours is a parliamentary system where executive is drawn from Parliament.
- 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.
In sum, if the legislators hold office of profit under the government, they have to toe the line of government and cannot act independently. Any government, especially a coalition, is seen to be doing everything to retain legislators in their group. Offering government positions is one such method to gain their support.
Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1950, 1951, and 1953 were made exempting certain posts from being considered as offices of profit. It is the privilege of the Parliament to do so regarding all Central executive posts. All these Acts were consolidated by the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959. By virtue of section 3 of the 1959 Act, certain offices did not disqualify their holders from being members of either houses of Parliament as they were declared non-profit. Lists of non-profit offices have been mentioned in Part H of the Schedule to the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959. Holders of these non-profit offices are not disqualified from being legislators or from contesting to be members of Parliament.
