Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

(74) Thus, in the Explanation the Legislature has, by using the word "situation", made it clear that the word "office" as used in clauses (vii) and (viii) means merely a position, or station or situation or place to which certain duties are attached of public character. This, then, is the meaning which, in the context, I attach to the word "office" as used in clause (viii) of section 2(c) of the Act of 1988, and if I am correct, then, surely, Members of Parliament would be taken as public servants within the meaning of section 2(c) of the Act of 1988. I shall be failing in my duty in not touching upon the argument advanced by Mr.R.K.Anand and enthusiastically adopted by others that the Constitution itself distinguishes between an "office" and a "seat". I find that this very argument was advanced before my brother Mohd. Shamim J. in L.K.Advani v. Central Bureau of Investigation 1997 Iii Ad (Delhi) 53. The argument was rejected with the observation: "The mere fact that the position which an Mp occupies in the Parliament has been referred to as "seat" instead of "office" is not a sure indicium of the fact that an Mp is not a public servant."