th January 2018 as per their recommendation. President Kovind approved the binding recommendation of the Election Commission in the ‘office of profit case’ on 21^st January 2018. The 20 MLA’s now stand disqualified, and a by-election is to follow within six months. The AAP government has decided to move to court alleging political bias. AAP, which had a huge majority holding 66 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly is still comfortably in power.

Office of Profit case in Delhi Assembly:

• In March 2015, 21 MLA’s of AAP was appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries. Lawyer Prashant Patel challenged the appointment. He appealed to then President Pranab Mukherjee for disqualification of the MLA’s.
• States like Rajasthan and Karnataka allow MLA’s to hold the post of Parliamentary Secretaries due to their respective state laws.
• Kejriwal government had also sought to pass Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act in 2015. The Lieutenant Governor did not give it assent.

States like Rajasthan and Karnataka allow MLA’s to hold the post of Parliamentary Secretaries

• The President had then sought Election Commission’s recommendation, and the case has been on since then.
• The Kejriwal government had cleared before that the secretaries would not receive any remuneration or perks attached to the office.
• But the conflict of interest and duty got Election Commission to conclude it as an office of profit finally.

What is Office of Profit?

• The Constitution of India under Article 191 proclaims the ground of disqualification of an MLA (Article 102 for MP).
• One of the criteria is a disqualification for holding an office of profit.
• An office of profit is not defined but has been interpreted by courts. It is a government office which carries with it financial remuneration, office space, accommodation or even a car.
• The question whether an MLA held an office of profit is decided by whether the office is capable of yielding a profit. Whether an MLA benefitted is irrelevant.
• The underlying principle behind this criterion of disqualification was that legislators should not feel obliged towards the executive. They should be free of any influence while discharging their legislative functions.

Jaya Bachchan of Samajwadi Party was disqualified from Rajya Sabha in 2006 by the then President APJ Abdul Kalam. She was holding an office of profit being the Chairperson of the UP Film Advisory Council.   To know  when Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho announced his retirement click here

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