Sheila Dikshit keen to woo unhappy Congress MLAs

Now, Dikshit has asked the Delhi Chief Secretary Omesh Saigal to "define what are offices of profit and how many boards and committees would fall under this category". The letter was sent to the Secretariat a week ago, and the Government is waiting with bated breath for the reply which will decide the fate trouble-making MLAs and the degree of comfort the Chief Minister can enjoy in the future.

On the all-important reply, Saigal said, "We are waiting for legal opinion on the matter. If the experts say that these are office of profit then MLAs cannot be appointed as chairmen on these boards and committees."

The Bill was moved when Madan Lal Khurana was the chief minister and when the Government wanted to make the then BJP MLA from Kalkaji, Purnima Sethi, the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women.

This provoked a debate within the Government on the basis of the Krishna Menon Committee recommendations on state undertakings,which says that no Member of Parliament would hold positions in boards.

Despite differences, the ruling BJP moved the Bill called the Delhi Member of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualifications) Bill, on April 4, 1996.

The main emphasis of the Bill was to make sure that being a MLA would not disqualify him or her from heading various boards and committees. The Bill read, "A person shall not be disqualified for being a member of the Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi merely by reason of the fact that he holds any of the offices specified…"

The Bill was to be applicable to most committees and boards listed and any other "office of the chairman, director or member of a statutory or non-statutory body or committee or corporation constituted by the Government of Delhi".

However, the Bill was returned to the Assembly for reconsideration by the then President of India, Shanker Dayal Sharma, and was later amended to exclude offices of profit.