In a recent move, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has recommended that MPs and MLAs who are also teachers, such as Delhi University’s Rakesh Sinha of BJP and Manoj Jha of RJD, be allowed to teach and do research when their House sessions are on.
Here, it is important to cite a Demi Order (DO) issued to Vice Chancellors of universities on March 6 1987, which has so far required teachers to take a leave of absence during their term in office while retaining their seniority.
According to the fresh UGC recommendations, such teachers may draw their salaries from the universities they are teaching in and their allowances from the parliamentary or legislative secretariat. They may be marked “on duty” when they attend House sessions or undertake any parliamentary or legislative assignments.
The university/college should appropriately assign their workloads to ensure their teaching assignments do not suffer and conversely, such teachers should not hold any administrative positions in the university/college during their term as MPs/ MLAs, so their legislative work does not suffer. It also suggests that teachers who wish to take leaves of absence during their terms as MPs/MLAs may be allowed to do so while ensuring that they do not lose their seniority or increments.
However, the UGC has opted not to go into the matters relating to the office of profit and suggested that they are looked into and decided by the parliamentary or legislative secretariat. Office of profit refers to executive appointments. A number of countries forbid members of the legislature from accepting an office of profit under the executive as a means to secure the independence of the legislature and preserve the separation of powers.
In India, articles 102 (1) (a) and 191 (1) (a) of the Constitution bar MPs or MLAs from holding an office of profit as it can put them in a position to gain a financial benefit. In 2015, a Parliament joint committee ruled that a Trinamool Congress MP, Anupam Hazra, who was an assistant professor in a government-aided university, could hold both offices and avail salaries from both places. According to the committee, the office of an assistant professor was not an office of profit, whereas the law ministry officials believed it to be one, as it was “attached with remuneration in the form of pay.”
Hindustan Times reported that these suggestions had emerged as a result of discussions held on the matter, following a reference from Rajya Sabha regarding the salary and perquisites given to MPs who were also teachers. They are scheduled to be placed before the Rajya Sabha secretariat shortly.