Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 18, 2006
Introduction: Move meant to appease Prez,
keep poll panel at bay
With President A P J Abdul Kalam giving no
indication that he would give his assent to the office of prof- it bill before
August 24-by which time the Election Commission could start disqualification
proceedings against 45 MPs supporting the ruling coalition-the UPA government
blinked on Thursday, signalling its readiness to consider incorporating his
suggestions in the proposed law.
In a move clearly aimed at appeasing Rashtrapati
Bhavan and warding off uncertainty about the parliamentary berths of its supporters,
the government announced the setting up of a 15-member joint parliamentary
committee to examine the three reservations that President Kalam had cited
when he denied his assent to the bill in the first round. Government sources
conceded that the setting up of the panel could be a step towards rewriting
the law in accordance with the suggestions of the President.
The government had brushed aside the caveats
suggested by the President and endorsed by the opposition to get the bill
passed by parliament and had sent it to him in its original form.
However, it panicked when the President showed
no sign of giving his assent to the bill. Its concern also stemmed from the
fact that while the constitution obliges the President to give his assent
to a bill which is sent to him a second time, it does not lay down a time-frame
for the purpose.
The defiance contrasted sharply with the anxiety
it showed on Thursday in the Lok Sabha.
The motion for the constitution of the JPC
was moved without any intimation and, unusually, without the names of all
those who would be on it, betraying the government's anxiety to secure assent
for the bill before the EC sets the disqualification ball in motion.
