On Board Air India One, July 18
The Union Cabinet will take a call on the controversial Office Of Profit Bill within the next couple of days, ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament commencing next Monday, to decide whether it should be amended or tabled again in the same form, Prime Minister Manmohan said here today.

The Prime Minister also set off speculation about the next head of the external affairs ministry, saying he was hopeful about the appointment of a full-fledged minister. “It can be at any time," he added cryptically. Dr Singh has been holding the portfolio after Mr K.Natwar Singh put in his papers in the wake of the Volcker controversy..

Talking to presspersons on his way back from a three-day trip to St. Petersburg for the G-8 outreach session, Dr. Singh said the Cabinet had not taken a firm view on the Office of Profit Bill so far.

"We haven't had a meeting of the Cabinet on this issue. In a day or two we will hopefully settle that issue also," Dr Singh said when asked about how the government' planned to respond to President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam's objections to the original Bill and whether it would be modified or taken up in the same form..

He was asked whether the bill, which was passed earlier this year and returned by President APJ Abdul Kalam, would be brought to Parliament in the same form.

The Prime Minister said: “In due course of time, we will go to Parliament. The President has sent a message to Parliament and the constitutional provision being what it is, this message will be discussed in Parliament and debated by it," said Dr. Singh said.

UPA sources said though this issue had been debated internally, there was still no clarity on the matter. It was stated that there were three options before the Centre. It would brazen it out, ignore the President's objections and send the same Bill to him for his consent. According to the Constitution, it was stated, the President cannot return the same Bill twice.

The second option before the Centre is to introduce some minor amendments to the original Bill to address the President's concerns. In such a case, it will be considered a new Bill and is liable to be returned again to Parliament in case it does not meet with the President's approval.

The third option is to take up the same Bill along with an assurance that the issues raised by the President pertaining to this legislation would be looked into by a Parliamentary panel. This could even be the already existing parliamentary committee dealing with office of profit issues.

The office of profit Bill has become a hot potato for the UPA government, especially after the President had returned the Bill to Parliament for reconsideration for a “comprehensive and generic” criteria which should be "fair and reasonable" and applicable in a “clear and transparent” manner.

He had raised the questions over the implication of including the names of offices over which disqualification petitions were pending before the Election Commission and the applicability of the law with retrospective effect.