PARLIAMENT (PREVENTION OF DISQUALIFICATION) AMENDMENT ACT, 2006[REPEALED]
Preamble 1 - PARLIAMENT (PREVENTION OF
DISQUALIFICATION) AMENDMENT ACT, 2006
THE PARLIAMENT (PREVENTION OF DISQUALIFICATION) AMENDMENT ACT, 2006
[Act, No. 31 of 2006]
[18th August, 2006]
PREAMBLE
An Act further to amend the Parliament (Prevention
of Disqualification) Act, 1959.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-seventh
Year of the Republic of India as follows:--
Section 1 - Short title
This
Act may be called the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment
Act, 2006.
Section 2 - Amendment of section 3
In section 3 of the Parliament (Prevention of
Disqualification) Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act),--
(i) after clause (ac), the following clause shall be
inserted, namely:--
"(ad)
the office of the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council constituted by
the Government of India in the Cabinet Secretariat vide Order No.
631/2/1/2004-Cab., dated the 31st May, 2004;";
(ii) after clause (j) and before Explanation 1, the
following clauses shall be inserted and shall be deemed to have been inserted
with effect from the 4th day of April, 1959, namely:--
"(k) ?the
office of Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary or Member (by whatever name
called) in any statutory or non-statutory body specified in the Table;
(l) ???the
office of Chairperson or trustee (by whatever name called) of any Trust,
whether public or private, not being a body specified in the Schedule;
(m) ?the
office of Chairman, President, Vice-President or Principal Secretary or
Secretary of the Governing Body of any society registered under the Societies
Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any other law relating to
registration of societies, not being a body specified in the Schedule.".
Section 3 - Insertion of new table
After
the Schedule to the principal Act, the following Table shall be inserted and
shall be deemed to have been inserted with effect from the 4th day of April,
1959, namely:--
"TABLE
[See section 3(K)]
|
S. No. |
Name
of body |
|
(1) |
(2) |
|
1. |
The Tripura Khadi and Village
Industries Board, a body constituted under the Tripura Khadi and Village
Industries Act, 1966. |
|
2. |
The Uttar Pradesh Development
Council. |
|
3. |
The Irrigation and Flood Control
Commission, Uttar Pradesh. |
|
4. |
The Indian Statistical Institute,
Calcutta. |
|
5. |
The West Bengal Handicrafts
Development Corporation Limited, |
|
6. |
The West Bengal Small Industries
Development Corporation Limited. |
|
7. |
The West Bengal Industrial
Development Corporation Limited. |
|
8. |
The Sriniketan Santiniketan
Development Authority, a body constituted under the West Bengal Town and
Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979 (West Bengal Act No. 13 of
1979). |
|
9. |
The Haldia Development Authority, a
body constituted under the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and
Development) Act, 1979 (West Bengal Act No. 13 of 1979). |
|
10. |
The West Bengal Minorities
Development and Finance Corporation, a body constituted under the West Bengal
Minorities Development and Finance Corporation Act, 1995. |
|
11. |
The Hooghly River Bridge
Commissioners, constituted under the Hooghly River Bridge Act, 1 969 (West
Bengal Act No. 36 of 1 969). |
|
|
|
|
12. |
The Board of Wakf, West Bengal, a
body constituted under the Wakf Act, 1995 (43 of 1995). |
|
|
|
|
13. |
The State Fisheries Development
Corporation Limited, West Bengal. |
|
14. |
The West Bengal State Haj Committee,
constituted under the Haj Committee Act, 2002 (35 of 2002). |
|
15. |
The Asansol Durgapur Development
Authority, West Bengal, a body constituted under the West Bengal Town and
Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979 (West Bengal Act No. 13 of
1979). |
|
16. |
The West Bengal Pharmaceutical and
Phytochemical Development Corporation Limited. |
|
17. |
The West Bengal Handloom and
Powerloom Development Corporation Limited. |
|
18. |
The West Bengal Khadi and Village
Industry Board. |
|
19. |
The Society for Self-employment for
Urban Youth, a society registered under the West Bengal Societies
Registration Act, 196 1 (West Bengal Act No. 26 of 1961 ). |
|
20. |
The Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams
Board. |
|
21. |
The Agricultural and Processed Food
Products Export Development Authority, an authority constituted under section 4 of the Agricultural and
Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985 (2 of 1986). |
|
22. |
The National Agricultural
Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED). |
|
23. |
The Indian Farmer Fertilizers
Co-operative Limited (IFFCO). |
|
24. |
The Krishak Bharati Co-operative
Limited (KRIBHCO). |
|
25. |
The National Co-operative Consumers
Federation of India Limited (NCCF). |
|
26. |
The Auroville Foundation established
under sub-section (1) of section 10 of the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988 (54
of 1 988). |
|
27. |
The National Commission of Enterprises
in the Unorganised Sector. |
|
28. |
The Planning Board (Asiatic Society)
established under sub-section (1) of section 8 of the Asiatic Society Act, 1984 (5 of
1984). |
|
29. |
The Delhi Rural Development Board. |
|
30. |
The Maulana Azad Education
Foundation, |
|
31. |
The Indira Gandhi National Center for
the Arts. |
|
32. |
The Dr. Ambedkar Foundation. |
|
33. |
The Bihar State Board of Religious
Trust, a body constituted under the Bihar Hindu Religious Trust Act, 1950
(Bihar Act No. 1 of 1951). |
|
34. |
The Research and Information System
for the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries. |
|
35. |
The Indian Institute of Psychometry. |
|
36. |
The Uttar Pradesh Film Development
Council. |
|
37. |
The Uttar Pradesh Provincial Co-operative
Federation. |
|
38. |
The Uttar Pradesh Co-operative
Federation Limited. |
|
39. |
The National Co-operative Union of
India. |
|
40. |
The Uttar Pradesh Krishi and Gram
Vikas Bank. |
|
41. |
The Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Bank
Limited. |
|
42. |
The Indian Council for Cultural
Relations. |
|
43. |
The Board of Control -- A.N. Sinha
Institute of Social Studies, Patna. |
|
44. |
All India Council for Sports. |
|
45. |
The Howrah Improvement Trust. |
|
46. |
The Dalit Sena, 12, Janpath, New
Delhi. |
|
47. |
The Social Justice Trust, 12,
Janpath, New Delhi. |
|
48. |
The Bahujan Foundation (Charitable
Trust), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. |
|
49. |
The Bahujan Prerna Charitable Trust,
Delhi. |
|
50. |
The Central Wakf Council, established
under section 9 of the Wakf Act, 1995 (43 of] 995). |
|
51. |
The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
(NMML). |
|
52. |
The Jalianwala Bagh Memorial Trust. |
|
53. |
The Haj Committee of India
constituted under section 3 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002 (35 of
2002). |
|
54. |
The Mallickghat Phoolbazar Parichalan
Committee, |
|
55. |
The West Bengal Fisheries Corporation
Limited.". |
Section 4 - Special provisions as to validation and other matters
(1) Notwithstanding any judgment or order of any court
or tribunal or any order or opinion of any other authority, the offices
mentioned in clauses (act), (k), (l) and (m) of section 3 of
the principal Act shall not disqualify or shall be deemed never to have
disqualified the holders thereof for being chosen as, or for being, a member of
either House of Parliament as if the principal Act as amended by this Act had
been in force at all material times.
(2) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall be
construed as to entitle any person who has vacated a seat owing to any order or
judgment as aforesaid, to claim any re-instatement or any other claim in that
behalf.
(3) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified
that any petition or reference pending before any court or other authority on
the date of commencement of this Act, shall be disposed of in accordance with
the provisions of the principal Act, as amended by this Act.
Statement of Objects and Reasons -
Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Act, 2006
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS
AND REASONS
(1) Article 102(1)(a) of the Constitution provides that
a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as and for being a member of
either House of Parliament if he holds an office of profit under the Government
of India or Government of State other than an office declared by Parliament by
law not to disqualify its holder. In pursuance of this, the Parliament
(Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 was enacted by Parliament to exempt
certain offices, holding of which will otherwise subject the holder of such
office to disqualification.
(2) Under the existing legal framework, the way to
exempt the holder of an office which confers executive, judicial or legislative
powers or which entitles the holder to draw any allowance other than
compensatory allowance is to exempt such office by making a specific
legislative provision to that effect. In addition to the Parliament (Prevention
of Disqualification) Act, 1959, several other Acts of Parliament such as, the
Coffee Act, 1942, the Rubber Act, 1947 and the Rehabilitation Council of India
Act, 1992, creating Authorities or Bodies in which Members of Parliament are
represented, contain a specific provision to the effect that such offices will
not disqualify the holder on the ground that he is holding an office of profit.
(3) Any question as to disqualification are decided in
the case of pre-election disputes by the courts through the election petition
and post-election disputes by the Election Commission under articles 102 and
192 of the Constitution. Recently, it has become necessary to revisit the issue
of disqualification of Members of Parliament on the basis of holding an office
of profit. This has been necessitated due to recent developments where
approximately 40 or more Members from both Houses of Parliament are holding offices
of Chairman or members of various statutory and non-statutory bodies and are
facing disqualification proceedings on the ground that they are holding an
office of profit. If this state of affairs is allowed to continue then there is
bound to be large scale litigation and the likely vacation of seats in both the
Houses of Parliament, which will necessitate the holding of bye-elections to
fill up the resultant vacancies. This will be a wasteful expenditure and will
enforce unnecessary financial burden upon the nation.
(4) In view thereof, it is proposed to include certain
offices in the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, so as to
exempt the holders of such offices from incurring disqualification.
(5) The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.