Office of Profit: Center plans to introduce new legislation to replace 65-year-old law on disqualification of MPs | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Center plans to scrap the 65-year-old legislation governing disqualification of MPs from holding profit positions and replace it with new legislation in line with the current requirements introduced by the Legislative Department of the Union Ministry of Justice.
The draft ‘Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Bill, 2024’ is based on recommendations of the Joint Committee for profit offices (JCOP), previously led by Kalraj Mishra during the 16th Lok Sabha.
The new legislation aims to streamline section 3 of the current Parliamentary (Prevention of Disqualification) Act 1959 and eliminate the negative catalog of roster positions that would lead to disqualification.
The proposal seeks to address inconsistencies between current law and other statutes that explicitly provide exemptions from disqualification.
The draft legislation proposes to delete section 4 of the existing law regarding “temporary suspension” of disqualification in specific cases, while empowering the central government to amend the scheme through notifications.
While seeking public feedback, the department noted that the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, was framed to specify certain gainful government positions that would not disqualify individuals from being selected or serving as Members of Parliament .
The current law includes both positions that would not result in disqualification and positions that would result in disqualification. The law has undergone several amendments by Parliament over time.
Meanwhile, during the 16th Lok Sabha, the JCOP conducted a thorough review of the legislation and presented its findings.
The committee emphasized the importance of the Ministry of Justice addressing outdated entries in current legislation.
One of the main suggestions was to establish a ‘comprehensive definition’ for the term ‘profit offices’.
The committee also argued for clearer language and better layout.
It advised members nominated for various flagship initiatives, including “Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission, Deen Dayal Upadhyay-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana”, and other schemes to be protected from disqualification.