Office of profit case: EC to hear 21 AAP MLAs plea on July 14

Arvind Kejriwal had passed an order appointing the 21 MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries on March 13 last year

The Election commission on Monday decided to hear the plea of 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators, who were appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries by the Delhi Government last year.

A petition has alleged that the legislators occupied offices of profit in violation of the Constitution.

Earlier this month, President Pranab Mukherjee withheld the assent to a Bill passed by the Delhi Government in June 2015 to exempt the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the purview of an office-of-profit with retrospective effect.

The decision raised questions over the fate of 21 AAP MLAs holding the post.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had passed an order appointing the 21 MLAs, including Alka Lamba, Jarnail Singh, Adarsh Shastri and Rajesh Gupta, as Parliamentary Secretaries on March 13 last year.

Attempting to save from disqualification provisions for holding two offices of profit at one time, the Delhi Government then sought to amend the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of the Disqualification) Act, 1997.

The Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification Amendment) Bill- 2015 was forwarded by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to the Centre, which in turn sent it to the President with its comments.