The Union Cabinet, which met on Saturday morning under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has decided to repass the Office of Profit Bill in its present form and send it back to President A P J Abdul Kalam for his signature.

This was disclosed by Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and spokesperson of the Cabinet, at a press conference after the meeting.

"The message of the President will be read out first in the Rajya Sabha on July 25 and later in the Lok Sabha and the government will then move a motion to pass the Bill in its present form," Munshi said.

The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on May 16th and a day later by the Rajya Sabha and then sent to President for his approval on May 25.

The President sent it back to the Rajya Sabha chairman and the Lok Sabha speaker with comments.

"The memebers of the political parties will give their views on the subject during the discussions but the government will move a motion in both Houses to pass the bill in its present form. The President, under powers vested in him vide Article 111 of the Indian Constitution, had returned the bill for reconsideration," Munshi said.

The bill was brought to protect a large number of MPs and MLAs who would have been disqualified under the Office of Profit Act, which said that a Member of Parliament or legislature could not hold another office during his tenure as MP or MLA, if it gave him or her monetary benefit.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and several other Parliamentarians may have been disqualified if the Bill had not been amended.

Jaya Bachchan was also disqualified under the provisions of the same Act and Congress president Sonia Gandhi resigned from her seat to protect herself from disqualification on similar grounds.