New Delhi: The Opposition NDA on Saturday requested President A P J Abdul Kalam to seek the advice of the Supreme Court on the Constitutional validity of the Office of Profit Bill.
The Government had decided reintroduce it in Parliament without any changes and in it its original form.
Leader of Opposition L K Advani told reporters after calling on Kalam, as part of an NDA delegation, that the alliance requested the President to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on the proposed legislation under Article 143 of the Constitution.
"We, the members of the National Democratic Alliance, urge you to seriously consider referring the factum of the Constitutional validity of this bill to the Supreme Court for its advisory opinion under Article 143 of the Constitution," the NDA said in its memorandum to the President.
The NDA, which has decided to oppose the bill if reintroduced in Parliament without changes, alleged that the proposed legislation was violative of the Constitution because it seeks to provide immunity to a large number of offices held by lawmakers.
"The concerns expressed by you remain unattended in as much as the government has in utter disregard of your counsel, as also the Constitutional provisions, has decided to bring back the bill as it is," the NDA memorandum said.
"Inevitably, consequences of this would be that there would be no uniformity in the whole country," it added.
It alleged that lawmakers holding additional posts would continue to receive executive favours if the bill became a law.
"A disqualification under Article 102 occurs the moment a Member of Parliament occupies an Office of Profit. The Constitution merely has a provision to make a provision for declaration of the seat of that member as vacant. There should not be any retrospective validation of a gross illegality committed," the NDA memorandum said.
Advani, whom Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and Suresh Pachauri met on Sunday evening to seek consensus on the controversial bill.
He insisted that the legislation in its present form would fail court scrutiny.
"Although we told the government that they should show respect to the institution of the President by addressing objections raised by the President on the bill, we have learnt that the government has decided to reintroduce it as it is tomorrow (Tuesday) in the Rajya Sabha," he said.
Accompanied by NDA Convener George Fernandes, Advani maintained that both the Council of Ministers and the President were Constitutionally empowered to seek Supreme Court advice.
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