New Delhi [India], December 20 (ANI): Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh on Thursday rejected the no-confidence motion given by INDIA bloc members against Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, stating that the notice has been held as an “act of impropriety, severely flawed, apparently drawn in haste to mar the reputation of the incumbent Vice-President”.
In his ruling, Harivansh said that a communication purportedly signed by 60 members of the Council of States, addressed to no specific authority, was submitted on December 10 and sought its consideration under Article 67(b) of the Constitution as the intention of a no-confidence motion against the Vice President of India.
He said that Article 67(b) peremptorily mandates ‘at least 14 days’ prior notice for any resolution contemplating the Vice President’s removal.
“Thus December 10, 2024 notice of intention could permit such a resolution only after December 24, 2024. The current 266th session of the Council of States, as notified on November 6, 2024, commenced on November 25 and scheduled to conclude on December 20, 2024,” the ruling said.
Harivansh said that the notice is replete with assertions only to malign the incumbent Vice President asserting events from the time he assumed office in August 2022.
“A look at the notice reveals it couldn’t be more casual and cavalier, wanting on every conceivable aspect and severally flawed- absence of addressee, absence of resolution text, incumbent Vice President’s name not correctly spelt in the entire petition, documents and videos asserted not made part, premised on links of disjointed media reports without authentication and many more, the ruling said.
Harivansh also referred to the precedent in which the then Chairman Venkaiah Naidu rejected a similar removal notice concerning the Deputy Chairman, citing procedural impropriety.
“In view of the above, the notice is held as an act of impropriety, severely flawed, apparently drawn in haste and hurry to mar the reputation of the incumbent Vice-President and aimed to damage the constitutional institution. The same deserves to be and is hereby dismissed. A detailed order, being expedient, would follow,” the ruling said.
INDIA bloc parties held a joint press conference earlier this month and said they were forced to resort to the step to “safeguard the democracy and Constitution”.
They held a press conference a day after they submitted a no-confidence motion against Dhankhar.
The leaders made allegations about the manner in which the proceedings have been conducted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, accused Dhankhar of behaving like a “spokesperson of the government for his next promotion”.
He alleged that the “biggest disrupter” in Rajya Sabha is the Chairman himself.
“He (RS chairman) does schooling like a headmaster. From the opposition side, whenever important issues are raised as per rules – the chairman doesn’t allow to have a discussion in a planned manner. Time and again opposition leaders are stopped from speaking. His (RS Chairman) fidelity is towards the ruling party instead of the Constitution and constitutional tradition. He is working as a spokesperson of the government for his next promotion, it is visible to us. I have no hesitation in saying that the biggest disruptor in Rajya Sabha is the Chairman himself,” Kharge had said.
He said it is the first time in the history of Rajya Sabha that a no-confidence motion has been brought against the Chairman.
“Vice president is the second biggest constitutional post in India… Since 1952 – there has been no resolution brought to remove the Vice President as they have always been unbiased and beyond politics. They always ran the House as per the rules. But, today, there is more politics than rules in the House,” he said.
Kharge said that the Chairman’s behaviour in the House has damaged “the dignity of the country”. (ANI)
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