M A I N   N E W S

Hamdard faces disqualification
From T.R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — An independent Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab is precariously perched and just two sittings short of being disqualified as a member.

Frantic efforts to persuade Mr Brijender Singh Hamdard to attend at least one sitting of the House of Elders during the just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament so that he does not have to give up his Rajya Sabha seat has proved to be in vain.

Rajya Sabha Secretary-General R. C. Tripathy’s office in the Parliament complex has been inundated with telephone calls by MPs from Punjab desirous of knowing the status of Mr Hamdard’s membership.

Mr Tripathy is away in New York on a foreign tour and his office is at pains to explain that they are clueless whether Mr Hamdard sets a new precedent of bidding adieu to the Rajya Sabha because of having absented himself for 60 sittings at a stretch.

However, Rajya Sabha lobby sources said that they had not received any intimation so far about the possibility of Mr Hamdard being disqualified as a member of the Rajya Sabha. According to their records, Mr Hamdard had thus far absented himself from 58 continuous sittings of the Rajya Sabha. Therefore, the MP does not attract the provisions of disqualification at this juncture.

The member was tantalisingly two sittings away from attracting the provisions pertaining to being disqualified as a member of the Rajya Sabha. It was a touch-and-go case but Mr Hamdard can still redeem the situation and retain his membership by attending a sitting when the Rajya Sabha convenes for the winter session in the second half of November.

It is learnt that Mr Hamdard did indeed send a letter resigning from the Rajya Sabha. It was generally perceived that Mr Hamdard’s communication had dealt with seeking leave of absence from attending the sittings of the House of Elders. But that was not the case.

As the said letter did not conform to the rules, the Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Mr Krishan Kant refused to accept it. As a measure of abundant caution specifically in cases where a member puts in his papers much before his or her six-year tenure comes to an end, the Chairman ascertains the facts directly from the member concerned before acting on it.

To avoid complications, members are advised to send simple one-liners expressing their desire to resign as member of the Rajya Sabha. Mr Hamdard has apparently not followed this style. Besides, the Chairman’s office has not received any fresh communication from Mr Hamdard so far.

There is no precedent of such type in the Rajya Sabha requiring the House to move a motion for accepting the resignation of one of its members with at least three and a half years remaining before the expiry of his or her term.

Needless to say, Mr Hamdard’s seeming disinterest in being a member of the coveted Rajya Sabha has activated lobbies in Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s Shiromani Akali Dal to grab the Rajya Sabha seat should it fall vacant. There are quite a few who lost the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. They are anxiously waiting in the sidelines hoping to catch Mr Badal’s eye for being rehabilitated politically.