Patna High Court notice to the Chairman of Rajya Sabha

Patna, (Bihar Times): On the day the Supreme Court termed the AIIMS Amendment Act 2007 as unconstitutional and reinstated the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr P. Venugopal, the Patna high court issued notices to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Hamid Ansari, and its secretary general on the petition of the former Union minister and disqualified Rajya Sabha member, Captain Jai Narain Nishad. The latter was terminated by the Chairman of the Upper House, who also happens to be the Vice President of India. The next hearing will be made on May 14.

Captain Nishad’s membership was terminated following the complaint made by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which said that the Captain switched over from the BJP to the Rashtriya Janata Dal. His counsels, Y V Giri and Raju Giri argued that Nishad had not resigned from Rajya Sabha as he withdrew resignation within 30 days––the time limit permitted under the Rajya Sabha Disqualification Rules.

The high court was requested to issue notices to the Chairman and secretary general of Rajya Sabha by Nishad’s counsels on the plea that their stand on the matter are required for the adjudication of the case.