Sources said that the notice has been signed by almost 60 opposition MPs including Congress, RJD, TMC, CPI, CPI-M, JMM, AAP, DMK etc. The notice comes in the wake of strained relations between the Congress-led opposition and the Rajya Sabha chairman.
Congress MP Digvijay Singh has accused the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha of being biased. It is reported that the India Alliance parties had also considered serving a notice in August this year to move a motion to remove the Vice President from his post. But later that decision was put on hold to give Dhankhar ‘another chance’.
According to Article 67(b) of the Constitution, “The Vice President may be removed from office by a resolution of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) passed by a majority of all the members then present in the Council and therefore by the Lok Sabha. also have consent. No resolution shall be moved for the purpose of this section unless at least fourteen days’ notice of the intention to move the resolution is given.”
The challenge here is that under the rules, 14 days’ notice is mandatory for moving this resolution, but the current winter session of Parliament is scheduled to end on December 20, leaving only eight working days.
It is to be noted that no motion has ever been moved to remove the Vice President in the past, therefore the question of 14 days’ notice is open to interpretation and it will be up to the Deputy Chairman to decide. -agencies