PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 719
do not exceed those of a Member of Parliament for attending the session it will not be taken as an office of profit. If we specify the names of the various committees and commissions I know a very large number of them will be covered but all the same the kind of a committee referred to by Mr. Kamath will not come in. I am a very great criminal in this respect. I was also a member of the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation. First of all they gave us fees. We told them that in the matter of rehabilitation work we did not want any fees, they said, ‘No, you are entitled’. They gave us Rs. 50 per meeting whereas Members of Parliament are entitled to only Rs. 40 per day. (Now the fees has been made into Rs. 40.) So, they asked us to refund the amount paid to us for meetings for which we had drawn from Parliament. We said, ‘All right’. After the refund was made, they came to the conclusion that we were entitled to the money which was refunded back to us. We never asked for it, but when it came we accepted it.
Dr. Ambedkar: That shows the generosity of Government.
The Minister of Education (Maulana Azad): I suppose they did not ask again for the money to be refunded ?
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: The difficulty now is this. Even if we did not accept this money and gave it back, we would have come within the mischief of this rule if the office is regarded as an office of profit, because it is not the getting of the mony that matters but it is the office carrying that emolument.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Is it not an autonomous body created by a statute ? Therefore, is it an office of profit under the Government ?
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: It is an autonomous body.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Therefore, the amount was refunded to you.
Dr. Ambedkar: If you will kindly allow me to explain, I think it will cut short the discussion.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: But you must explain the following three points: (1) Rehabilitation Adviser;