Rajya Sabha member questions acceptance of Mallya's resignation

A Rajya Sabha member on Thursday wanted to know the fate of the ethics committee report that recommended Vijay Mallya's expulsion as the house chairman had accepted his resignation.

"The ethics committee's report was presented in the house yesterday (Wednesday) suggesting expulsion of a member. In the evening, the chairman accepted his resignation," Samajwadi Party member Naresh Agrawal said raising the issue.

"There are two questions... When the ethics committee report was already on the table of the house, did the chairman have the power to accept his resignation?"

"If he has the power, what is the present status of the ethics committee report," Agrawal asked.

"What would be the value of the ethics committee report," he wondered.

To this Kurien said that the chairman acted in accordance with the rules.

"The report tabled is property of the house; the house can take any decision on it. But the chairman acted in accordance with rules and acted as per constitution. That you cannot question here," he said.

He also said that the house now needed to decide whether to discuss the report or not.

"If that gentleman has resigned, then whether to discuss or not to discuss is for the house to consider, not for me," Kurien said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Vijay Goel asked if any government servant could resign and walk away after taking bribe.

"Can any government servant take bribe and resign? Will there be no action," Goel said.

Kurien, however, just said that the chairman's decision was as per rules.

He added that it was not a ruling but his view.

Chairman M. Hamid Ansari on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Mallya, hours after a report of the ethics committee recommending his expulsion had been tabled in the house.

Mallya had first sent his resignation to the chairman on Monday, but it was rejected as it was not in a proper format. Rajya Sabha Secretary General Shamsher K. Sharif wrote to him informing him that the resignation letter did not conform to prescribed procedures and it did not bear his signature.

Mallya sent another resignation letter in proper format after which the chairman accepted it on Wednesday.

--IANS

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