Rajya Sabha ethics panel recommends terminating Vijay Mallya's membership

The Ethics committee of Parliament took up the issue of beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya, who is facing legal proceedings for alleged loan defaults by his group to the tune of over Rs 9,000 crore, and gave him a week to respond why his membership of the Upper House should not be terminated.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha ethics panel on Monday unanimously recommended termination of Vijay Mallya's membership of the House. Mallya is an independent member of the House from Karnataka,

Ethics committee of Parliament took up the issue of beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya, who is facing legal proceedings for alleged loan defaults by his group to the tune of over Rs 9,000 crore and gave him a week to respond. The ethics committee will again meet on May 3 and announce the final decision on Mallya's membership .

"It has been decided that he should be expelled. All members agreed to it," Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav told reporters after a meeting of the committee, where Mallya`s case was discussed. 

Karan Singh said: "We reviewed the whole situation. We will give him a week`s time so that he can say what he has to say. The committee will meet again on May 3."As per rules, the Committee oversees the moral and ethical conduct of  members. It examines cases concerning the alleged breach of the Code of Conduct by members as also cases concerning allegations of any other ethical misconduct of members.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury spoke on similar lines.

"The opinion of members is very clear, he should be expelled," he said.

According to sources, in the discussions the committee was made aware that for around 10 years as a member of the Rajya Sabha, Mallya had been declaring his assets and liabilities as "nil".

"This is a blatant lie. He lied to the house and action will be taken," a committee member said.

Following the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday revoked beleaguered Mallya's passport. Arrest warrant against the businessman are reported to have been issued.

With PTI inputs