Punjab amends law on 'office of profit' to accommodate MLAs
Chandigarh, June 27: To dodge the ruling of various courts on the issue of lawmakers holding an office of profit, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday paved the way for MLAs to hold several new categories of office of profit by approving some amendments to the Punjab State Legislature (Prevention of Disqualification) Act 1952.
The amendments will protect the MLAs from disqualification in certain additional cases of office of profit, apart from the ones included in the original Act, an official spokesperson disclosed after a Cabinet meeting here.
The move will allow legislators in Punjab to hold high offices in boards, corporations and other bodies under the state government.
The Congress party, which has been running the government in Punjab since March 2017, has 78 legislators in the 117-member Assembly. But only 18 of them, including the Chief Minister, hold ministerial berths.
This has led to a lot of discontent among Congress legislators who could not make it into the Amarinder Singh cabinet.
The amendments "aimed at addressing the complexities of modern day governance", include incorporation of a new Section 1A to provide for the definitions of "compensatory allowance", "statutory body" and "non-statutory body", the spokesperson said.
Various high courts have come down on lawmakers for holding office of profit. Twenty one lawmakers of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi were disqualified by a court last year for this.
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2 children die, over dozen fall sick at Lucknow rehab; probe on
Lucknow (PTI): At least two children died and several others fell ill, allegedly due to food poisoning at a government rehabilitation centre for children in the Para area here, officials said.
On Tuesday evening, approximately 20 special needs children residing at the centre experienced sudden illness and were taken to Lokbandhu hospital.
"Around 20 children were brought to the hospital Tuesday evening from the rehabilitation centre. All these children are mentally challenged. They were severely dehydrated when they arrived. Despite our best efforts, two children died," Dr Rajeev Kumar Dixit, Medical Superintendent of Lok Bandhu Raj Narayan Combined Hospital told PTI Videos on Thursday.
Two critically ill children were referred to another government hospital, and the condition of the remaining 16 has improved, he added.
The incident triggered an investigation by local authorities.
Lucknow District Magistrate has formed a committee to determine the cause of the alleged food poisoning. Officials from the Health Department and Food Safety Department visited the hospital to interview the affected children.
"Officials of the Health Department and Food Safety Department reached the hospital. These officials have also questioned the children admitted," a government official said.
Food samples have been collected from the rehabilitation centre for analysis.
"A team of the Health Department and Food Safety Department reached the rehab centre and took food samples. Action will be taken based on the investigation report," an official source said.
According to District Probation Officer Vikas Singh, the centre houses 147 children, primarily orphans and those with mental challenges.
