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What is AAP ‘Office of Profit’ case? A timeline of events that took place

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The Election Commission on Friday suggested disqualifying 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs accusing them of “Office of Profit”. Reports claim that EC’s opinion has been communicated to President Ram Nath Kovind.

EC alleges that AAP legislators are being unconstitutionally appointed as parliamentary secretaries to assist various ministers of the Delhi government. The ‘Office of Profit’ case was initially stood against 21MLAs but it now it stands at 20 following the resignation of Rajouri Garden MLA Jarnail Singh who contested against Prakash Singh Badal in the Punjab Assembly elections last year.

So what is an Office of Profit?

Since there’s no clear definition available, we depend on past judicial pronouncements for clarity. According to the pronouncements in the past, there are two indispensable ingredients of an office of profit: “One, there should be an office and two, the office should carry some profit”. While the definition of an office, quoted in Kanta Kathuria vs Manak Chand Surana, reads: an “office has an existence independent from the persons who filled it, which went on and was filled in succession by successive holders”.

Furthermore, in U.C.Raman vs P.T.A.Rahim and Ors, the Supreme Court unconditionally stated, “The word ‘profit’ has always been treated equivalent to or a substitute for the term ‘pecuniary gain’”. The principle that an “office” should have “receivables” attached to it for it to qualify as an OoP, has been upheld in other cases as well.

Here’s a timeline of the series of events which took place in the case:

March 13, 2015: The Delhi government, headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, gives an order to appoint 21 MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries.

June 19, 2015: Advocate Prashant Patel challenged the appointment of MLAs. He filed a petition to the-then President Pranab Mukherjee that these MLAs were holding ‘Office of Profit’ and should be disqualified.

June 24, 2015: The Delhi Legislative Assembly passes the Delhi Member of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) (Amendment Bill), 2015 excluding Parliamentary Secretaries from ‘Office of Profit” with retrospective effect.

June 13, 2016: Then President Pranab Mukherjee rejects to provide his consent to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Bill.

June 25, 2016: Centre gives back 14 bills that were passed by Delhi government, along with Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Bill.

July 14-21, 2016: The Election Commission organizes a private hearing for 21 AAP MLAs, who were appointed as parliamentary secretaries by AAP government and were facing the threat of disqualification from the Assembly, in the ‘Office of Profit’ case.

September 8, 2016: The Kejriwal government’s order of appointing 21 of the party’s MLAs as parliamentary secretaries were set aside by the Delhi High Court.

September 8, 2016: The 21 AAP legislators receive a showcause notice from Election Commission.

January 6, 2017: AAP MLA from Rajouri Garden, Jarnail Singh resigns to contest in elections in Punjab against Prakash Singh Badal.

June 24, 2017: The Election Commission dismisses pleas of 21 AAP MLAs to drop ‘Office of Profit’ case against them.

October 9, 2017: The Election Commission provides notice to the AAP legislators, demanding an explanation in the ‘Office of Profit’ case.

January 19, 2018: Election Commission suggests debarment of 20 AAP legislators in the ‘Office of Profit’ case.

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