Punjab to exclude CM's advisors from office of profit

Under fire from the opposition for appointing six advisors to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the state cabinet on Thursday decided to bring an ordinance to exclude their appointments from the ambit of the office of profit.

The ordinance will amend the Punjab State Legislature (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1952, to add these posts to the list of posts that are not considered office of profit for the purpose of disqualification of MLAs, said an official spokesperson after the cabinet meeting here.

With the amendment, the MLAs, who have been appointed advisors, will not be disqualified, he said.

"The Punjab State Legislature (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1952, had been enacted in terms of Article 191 of the Constitution of India, to declare certain offices of profit as not disqualifying the holders of such office from being members of the State Legislature.

"The Act has undergone minor amendments from time to time. However, such amendments have not taken into account the complexity of modern day governance", the spokesperson said in an official release here.

Further, the amendments to the said Act have not taken into account the reports and studies of the various Parliamentary Committees which addressed the issue of office of profit. Therefore, the cabinet felt the need to amend section-2 of The Punjab State Legislature (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1952, the spokesperson said.

The council of ministers approved the addition of clause (q) after clause (p) by making amendment in section-2 of the Act as under "(q) the office of Advisor (Political) to Chief Minister/Advisor (Planning) to Chief Minister.”

The cabinet also authorised to approve and recommend the draft ordinance to the Punjab Governor for its promulgation.

As the Punjab Legislative Assembly is not in session, therefore, the governor is competent to promulgate the proposed Ordinance, the spokesperson stated.

Notably, the Punjab government had appointed six minister-rank advisors to the chief minister, a move which was described by the Opposition as an attempt to circumvent the constitutional cap on the cabinet size and "daylight robbery" of the state exchequer.

Four MLAs -- Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon of Faridkot, Singh Raja Warring of Gidderbaha, Sangat Singh Gilzian of Urmur and Inderbir Singh Bolaria of Amritsar South -- had been designated as advisors (political) while the fifth one, Kuljeet Singh Nagra of Fatehgarh Sahib, had been designated as advisor (planning).

All the five had been given the Cabinet rank and status.

The sixth one -- Tarsem Singh DC of Attari -- had been given the designation of advisor (planning) with the rank of a minister of state.

Punjab government on Wednesday had told the Punjab and Haryana High court that it was premature to assume "any financial burden" on the state exchequer because of appointment of six MLAs as advisors to Chief Minister, arguing terms and conditions of their appointments were "yet not out".

Mohali-based petitioner Jagmohan Singh Bhatti pleaded in his plea that the appointments of six MLAs was a violation of the provisions of the Constitution (91th amendment) Act, 2003, which stipulate that the strength of cabinet ministers could not exceed 15 per cent of total strength of members of the House.