Rajya Sabha Chairman turns down Vijay Mallya's resignation

Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohd Hamid Ansari has turned down liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s resignation on procedural grounds. Rajya Sabha Secretary General has written to Mallya that the Chairman does not accept his resignation letter as it does not conform to prescribed procedures and does not bear signature in original. 

Quoting from the Secretary General's letter, Mr. Ansari's OSD, Gurdeep Singh Sappal said on Twitter that as per procedures the resignation must be voluntary and genuine. According to rules, a Member who intends to resign his seat in the House has to intimate this in writing under his hand addressed to the Chairman, his intention to resign his seat in the Council.

Mallya is facing a case of loan default of over Rs



9,400 crore. From Britain, he had sent a scanned copy of the resignation letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman in a bid to avoid expulsion saying he did not want his name and reputation to be further dragged in mud. The Ethics Committee had to take a decision yesterday on recommending his expulsion, an issue which was unanimously decided in the panel's last meeting 25th of last month. 

The sources said, the Committee, which met yesterday, also pointed to the wrong procedure while rejecting the resignation. The panel members also expressed dissatisfaction with his reply about his loan default. The panel will submit its report before the Rajya Sabha today. Mallya's term in the Rajya Sabha was to come to an end on 1st of July this year.