The Office of Profit judgment that had been kept reserved since 2008 was finally delivered on Monday. A three-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and J.M. Panchal, has lent judicial sanction to the amendment which exempted 55 offices occupied by members of the Parliament.

The petitions were filed by the Consumer Education and Research Society, a Gujarat-based NGO and Dinesh Trivedi, currently the Union Minister of State for Health, challenging the validity of the 2006 amendment to the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1950, popularly known as the 'Office of Profit' Act.

Harish Salve, who appeared for the Trinamool MP, Dinesh Trivedi had contended that that the law was passed in undue haste without addressing the concerns raised by the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam while returning the Bill. It was also argued that the Act was promulgated with the sole purpose of protecting some of the members of Parliament against whom disqualification petitions were pending before the Election Commission. Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam appeared on behalf of the State.

The Supreme Court held that the Parliament had the legislative competence to effect legislation retrospectively. The Bench further held that it was the prerogative of Parliament to decide which post could be exempted from the 'Office of Profit'. The Court opined that the Act was not violative of Article 14 (equality before law) in choosing the offices since each office was different in its own way.

The controversy in 2006 resulted in the resignations of Congress President Sonia Gandhi from her position as chairperson of the National Advisory Council and the Samajwadi Party MP, Jaya Bachchan from her position as the chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Censor Board.