CDS (II) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 34 of 120

Correct — B, Holding the office of the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women. Article 102(1)(a) disqualifies a Member for holding an office of profit under the Government of India or of a State, but it carries its own escape clause — “other than an office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder”. The law Parliament made for that purpose is the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, and its section 3 lists the offices that are protected. The Chairperson of the National Commission for Women, constituted under section 3 of the National Commission for Women Act, 1990, is on that list, alongside the chairpersons and members of the other national commissions. So the office attracts no disqualification at all, while each of the other three options names a ground that does. That is what makes it the odd one out.

• (a)Voluntary acquisition of citizenship of a foreign country — This is a disqualification, under Article 102(1)(d). A person is disqualified if he is not a citizen of India, or has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State, or is under any acknowledgment of allegiance or adherence to a foreign State. The word that matters is voluntarily.
• (c)The Member abstains from voting in the House without prior permission — This is a disqualification too, though the option compresses it. Paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule disqualifies a Member who votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to a direction issued by his political party without that party's prior permission, unless the act is condoned within fifteen days. As printed the clause leaves out the party direction, but the ground it points to is real and it is decided by the Chairman or Speaker.
• (d)The Member holds the office of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Coal Development Corporation Ltd. — Also a disqualification, and the classic office-of-profit case. The chairmanship of the board of a government company is an office of profit under the Government, and this particular company is a real one — the National Coal Development Corporation Limited, set up in 1956, which survives as Central Coalfields Limited within the Coal India group. Unlike the National Commission for Women, it is not in the protected list.

Disqualification for membership of Parliament comes from three places at once. Article 102(1) lists office of profit, unsound mind, undischarged insolvency and foreign citizenship or allegiance; clause (e) lets Parliament add more, which it has done through the Representation of the People Act, 1951; and Article 102(2) with the Tenth Schedule adds defection. The office-of-profit ground is the only one with a statutory list of exemptions attached to it.

The item is a not-question with three real grounds and one exempted office, so it is decided by knowing that the exemption list exists rather than by weighing how important each office sounds. The Constitution deliberately never defines office of profit; the courts have worked out tests around who appoints, who pays, who can dismiss and whether the office carries executive functions, and Parliament has repeatedly amended the 1959 Act to place particular offices beyond argument. Note the asymmetry the question is built on — a statutory commission's chairperson is protected, a government company's board chairman is not.

• Article 102(1)(a) disqualifies for an office of profit under the Government of India or a State, except an office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify.
• The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 is that law; section 3 protects the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women among other national commission offices.
• Article 102(1)(d) covers non-citizenship, voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship, and acknowledgment of allegiance to a foreign State.
• The Tenth Schedule, inserted by the 52nd Amendment in 1985, supplies the defection grounds, including voting or abstaining against a party direction without prior permission.
• The National Commission for Women was constituted on 31 January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990; Rekha Sharma held the chair at the time of this exam and Vijaya Kishore Rahatkar has held it since October 2024.

• Assuming any public office held by a Member is an office of profit; the exemption list is long and is the whole subject of the 1959 Act.
• Reading the abstention clause as though any absence from a division disqualifies — the direction of the party is the missing hinge.
• Confusing the National Commission for Women, a statutory body, with a constitutional commission such as the one for Scheduled Castes under Article 338.

As a not-question separating real disqualification grounds from an exempted office, or as statements on the 1959 Act and the definition of office of profit.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The expression ‘office of profit’, used in Article 102 of the Constitution of India, is

  • (a)defined in Article 102 itself
  • (b)defined in the Tenth Schedule
  • (c)not defined in the Constitution and has been interpreted by the courts
  • (d)defined in the Representation of the People Act, 1951

  Answer(c) not defined in the Constitution and has been interpreted by the courts — the tests turn on appointment, remuneration, power of dismissal and the functions of the office.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A Member of Parliament who votes against a direction of his political party without its prior permission is liable to disqualification under

  • (a)the Ninth Schedule
  • (b)the Tenth Schedule
  • (c)Article 102(1)(a)
  • (d)the Representation of the People Act, 1950

  Answer(b) the Tenth Schedule — inserted by the 52nd Amendment in 1985, it makes voting or abstaining contrary to a party direction a defection unless condoned within fifteen days.