New Delhi, May 22: This is one office of profit politicians wouldn’t mind flaunting.

Lok Sabha secretary-general P.D.T. Achary has written a fat tome ? simply called Office of Profit ? and no less than Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is plugging it.

Printed by a publication house that specialises in law books, the book costs Rs 695.

But Chatterjee hopes that despite the steep price, people will buy it and clear their misconceptions about the recent office-of-profit row that cost Jaya Bachchan her MP’s post and prompted Sonia Gandhi to sacrifice hers.

Releasing the book at a 20-minute programme at the Parliament library today, the Speaker said he became a “victim” of the controversy when his post of Sriniketan-Santiniketan Development Authority chairperson came under the scanner.

Writing a book to cash in on controversy is not a new phenomenon, but Profit is not really a quickie. Achary had been working on it for two years ? the idea came to him while researching for an earlier book on election laws.

But the timing of Profit’s release is just perfect ? it comes just days after Parliament resolved the controversy by passing an amendment to the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act.

The storm started when Jaya lost her Parliament seat because the Election Commission ruled that the Uttar Pradesh film development body that she headed was an office of profit under the government.

Chatterjee said he wished the book had been out earlier so that critics would have had the information on what exactly is “an office of profit”.

“I am also a victim of lack of knowledge of law,” he said. “Everyone assumed I am guilty of holding an office of profit.”

The Speaker said nobody knew the exact position of the law on office of profit and the onus of proving one’s innocence was on persons facing the “allegations”.

He said people threw mud at politicians, expecting some of it would stick.

Achary, who has been with the Lok Sabha secretariat for 35 years, also said lack of a clear definition of an office of profit has been “creating a little problem”. His book explains the concept of office of profit, traces its history and analyses previous court judgments in India and in Britain.