O J's Corner : Reflections

Dr Kalam the Great

Our President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam has added signature to his Presidency by taking actions which he thinks are morally and ethically strong. Others in his place would have thought twice before issuing directions of the sort which could not be obeyed.

The latest was his message to Parliament under Article 111 of the Constitution, not to the Union Government, to draft the Office of Profit bill differently.

He was not amenable to 46 offices of profit being excluded by picking and choosing from the office of profit relating to MPs. Exemptions should cover the whole of the country and various States, instead of offices being exempted by choice. The message was intended to be something that is morally high. The President was also not happy about giving retrospective effect to the legislation.

The Government, out of the political expediency of running a coalition regime, cannot accede to the directive of the President. Among many others, 10 CPM MPs, including Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, are covered by the bill, which has to be re-submitted to the President in its original form.

The Government does not want to seem to have shown disrespect to the directive of the President. That is why it is delegating a Group of Ministers to study the issue and to suggest ways and measures to deal with the problem.

There have been comments galore made by various sections of the people, particularly certain politicians and the media that the President is being led to sign on the dotted line.

There is nothing like that. The President has brought to the notice of Parliament the unfairness of the impugned bill.

What can the present government do other than presenting the bill, as it is, after passage by both Houses of Parliament again?

By passing it again and presenting to the President as it is, Parliament is not doing anything illegal, for the relevant provisions are clear in the Constitution. The President is left with no choice other than approving it.

Even when there was no specific provision in the Constitution barring Sonia Gandhi, a person of foreign origin, from occupying the position of the Prime Minister after the people gave her a clear mandate, there was heated debate about the morality of her occupying the post of the head of government.
Dr Kalam, in his inimitable style, had invited her for discussion about forming the government. She was not invited to form the government. After the discussions, she thought it fit to entrust Dr Manmohan Singh with the post. Which shows that Dr Kalam does not mind raising issues which can have repercussions.

Take the case of returning the bill. President Kalam would be the only President who has to sign a returned bill by the highest office-holder of the country.

Zail Singh had returned the post offices bill, after keeping it with him for a long time, to Rajiv Gandhi, who later chose not send it back to him.

President Venkataraman had returned the MPs’ pension bill. But the bill was returned after holding discussions with the Prime Minister.

The President pointed out the flaw, Parliament thought it otherwise, and now the President has to accept the political reality.