Parliament panel set to recommend Mallya's expulsion

The Ethics Committee of Parliament is set to recommend the expulsion of Independent MP and liquor baron Vijay Mallya even after his tendering resignation from the membership of the Upper House yesterday.
Sources said the panel was unanimous in its decision that Mallya, facing a case of loan default of over Rs 9,400 crore, should no longer remain a member of the Upper House and found his reply to its notice unsatisfactory.
The sources said the panel will submit its report before the Rajya Sabha tomorrow.
A motion has to be introduced in the House and approved by it for termination of the membership of any MP.

After the meeting, panel Chairman Karan Singh, however, declined to divulge the details saying that being the head of the committee it will not be appropriate for him to announce a decision taken in its meeting.
He evaded a direct reply on whether the committee can still recommend the expulsion of Mallya.

Mallya had yesterday faxed his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari a day before Ethics Committee had to take a decision on recommending his expulsion, an issue, which was unanimously in the panel's last meeting on April 25.
Pressed further, Singh, however, said the decision that was taken in the meeting even today was unanimous.

Asked whether the panel has any room left now to take up the matter when Mallya has already resigned, Singh said, "Of course there is room. He is still a member of the House until it (the resignation) is accepted."
He also said the committee will submit its recommendation to the Upper House tomorrow.
"Ethics Committee only recommends. The report (of the panel) is property of the House," he said when repeatedly asked whether the committee has any other option left other than recommending expulsion of Mallya since it had in its last meeting decided to do so.
Ethics Panel of the Upper House, which had taken up the matter, had unanimously decided in its April 25 meeting that Mallya should no longer remain a member of the House and was planning to recommend his expulsion in today's meeting.

At the same time, the panel had decided to give Mallya one week time to explain his conduct.
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In his resignation letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, he said he did not want his "name and reputation to be further dragged in the mud".
"And since recent events suggest that I will not get a fair trial or justice, I am hereby resigning as a member of the Rajya Sabha with immediate effect," he had said.
He had also referred to the letter written to him by Singh and said he had replied to it.
Mallya had said that he received the letter from Singh dated April 25 in which it was stated that the Rajya Sabha Chairman had referred an issue to the Committee on Ethics regarding "purported default" by Mallya in the "repayment of bank loans", which have "not been reflected" in his declaration of assets and liabilities.

Mallya said the letter further stated that in a meeting "purportedly held" on May 25, the Committee on Ethics unanimously felt that he should be expelled from the Rajya Sabha.
Appending a copy of his reply to Singh, Mallya, who faxed his resignation to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, he had asserted, "The allegations against me are blatantly false and baseless."
"I am shocked that the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has provided factually wrong information to a Parliament Committee," he had further said.
The committee had sought details of the liabilities on Mallya's airline Kingfisher from 13 banks, which furnished their replies according to which the total liability on Mallya's company is Rs 9431.65 crore. Of this IDBI's liability alone is Rs 1687.04 crore followed by Punjab National Bank's Rs 1223 crore.

This is Mallya's second term in Rajya Sabha and it would have otherwise come to an end on July 1.
The committee decided to crack the whip on the ground that Mallya never declared these liabilities in the past 10 years, which a member is supposed to do annually.