'Election of MPs to AWBI to be exempt from office of profit provisions'

New Delhi: After juggling with contradictory opinions and changes in the administrative ministry, a parliamentary panel has said the election of parliamentarians to the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) may not be construed as holding an office of profit.

The AWBI had requested the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Office of Profit in December 2018 to examine whether the election or nomination of lawmakers to the board amounted to holding an office of profit, thus leading to their disqualification as members of Parliament.

The committee, chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Satya Pal Singh, has asked the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying to take steps to include the AWBI, a statutory body that helps in the implementation of animal welfare laws, in the exempted category of the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959.

Six members of Parliament – four from the Lok Sabha and two from the Rajya Sabha – are elected or nominated to the AWBI. But no representation has been made since 2007, the report of the committee noted.