 bill no 44 of 2006 the parliament (prevention of disqualification) amendment bill, 2006 a billfurther to amend the parliament (prevention of disqualification) act, 1959be it enacted by parliament in the fifty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1 this act may be called the parliament (prevention of disqualification)amendment act, 200610 of 1959amendment of section 352 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:—5"(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;1021 of 1860(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  or under any other law relating to registration of societies, not being a body specified in the schedule"insertion of new table153 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:—[see section 3(k)]snoname of  body20(1)(2)1the tripura khadi and village industries board, a body constituted under the tripura khadi and village industries act, 19662the uttar pradesh development council3the irrigation and flood control commission, uttar pradesh254the indian statistical institute, calcutta5the west bengal handicrafts development corporation limited6the west bengal small industries development corporation limited7the west bengal industries development corporation limited308the 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)9the 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)3510the west bengal minorities development and finance corporation, a body constituted under the west bengal minorities development and finance corporation act, 199511the hooghly river bridge commissioners, constituted under the hooghly river bridge act, 1969 (west bengal act no 36 of 1969)4012the board of wakf, west bengal, a body constituted under the wakf act, 1995 (43 of 1995)(1)(2)13the west bengal fisheries development corporation limited14the west bengal state haj committee, constituted under the haj committee act, 2002 (35 of 2002)515the 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)16the west bengal pharmaceutical and phytochemical development corporation limited17the west bengal powerloom and handloom development corporation limited1018the west bengal khadi and village industry board19the society for self-employment for urban youth, a society registered under the west bengal societies registration act, 1961 (west bengal act no 26 of 1961)20the tirumala tirupathi devasthanams board1521the 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)22the national agricultural co-operative marketing federation of india limited (nafed)2023the indian farmer fertilizers co-operative limited (iffco)24the krishak bharati co-operative limited (kribhco)25the national co-operative consumers federation of india limited (nccf)26the auroville foundation established under sub-section (1) of section 10 of the auroville foundation act, 1988 (54 of 1988)2527the national commission of enterprises in the unorganised sector28the planning board (asiatic society) established under sub-section (1) of section 8 of the asiatic society act, 1984 (5 of 1984)29the delhi rural development board30the maulana azad education foundation31the indira gandhi national centre for arts3032the dr ambedkar foundation33the bihar state religious trust board34the research and information system for the non-aligned and other developing countries3535the indian institute of psychometry36the uttar pradesh co-operative bank37the uttar pradesh provincial co-operative federation38the uttar pradesh co-operative federation limited39the national co-operative union of india4040the uttar pradesh krishi and gram vikas bank41the uttar pradesh co-operative bank limited42the indian council for cultural relations43the board of control—an sinha institute of social studies, patna44all india council for sports4545the howrah improvement trust"special provisions as to validation and other matters54 (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 (ad), (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 behalf10(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 reasonsarticle 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 disqualification2 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 profit3 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 nation4 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 disqualification5 the bill seeks to achieve the above objectshans raj bhardwajnew delhi;the  11th may, 2006 lok sabha________ a bill further to amend the parliament (prevention of disqualification) act, 1959________(shri hans raj bhardwaj, minister of  law and justice)