The Joint Parliamentary Committee on Office of Profit headed by BJP MP Satya Pal Singh on Thursday deliberated on whether a Parliamentarian can continue to teach at University and if this draws the provisions of “Office of Profit” rules.
The Hindu Explains | Office of profit
In the current Parliament there are two Rajya Sabha members — RJD’s Manoj K. Jha and BJP’s Rakesh Kumar Sinha, along with Lok Sabha’s Sukanta Majumdar who are full time academicians.
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So far, the committee has not taken any call on the issue. Representatives of the Ministry of Law and Justice who attended the meeting, according to sources, sought more time from the panel. The committee has also called representatives from Delhi University, where Mr. Jha and Mr. Sinha teach, and University of Gour Banga, Malda, West Bengal, where Mr. Majumdar teaches, in the next meeting. The UGC officials will also be deposing before the committee on the subject.
Under the provisions of Article 102 (1) and Article 191 (1) of the Constitution, an MP or an MLA (or an MLC) is barred from holding any office of profit under the Central or State government. The argument is that the lawmakers who hold the government accountable should not be susceptible to government influence by way of holding any post where they get salary or allowances from the government. This law seeks to enforce a basic feature of the Constitution — the principle of separation of power between the legislature and the executive.