Bill exempts SC/ST commission chairpersons from MP disqualification

This Bill amends the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, to ensure that holding the office of Chairperson of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes or the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes does not disqualify a person from being a Member of Parliament.

Who it concerns: The Chairpersons of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes.

What the bill does

• Substitutes sub-clause (ii) of clause (ba) in section 3 of the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959.
• Explicitly exempts the Chairperson of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes (constituted under Article 338 of the Constitution) from disqualification.
• Explicitly exempts the Chairperson of the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes (constituted under Article 338A of the Constitution) from disqualification.
• The amendment is deemed to have come into force on 19th February 2004.

Also in the document

• The amendment is consequential to the bifurcation of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two separate commissions by the Constitution (Eighty-ninth Amendment) Act, 2003.
• The effective date of the amendment (19th February 2004) matches the date the Constitution (Eighty-ninth Amendment) Act, 2003 came into force.