The Monsoon session of Parliament will come to an end on Thursday, Aug 21. The session has been washout due to opposition protests.
Now the centre will come out with a new set of Bills to ensure that a sitting Minister and the Prime Minister in Delhi and the chief ministers and ministers in the states may be removed from office if they are detained or arrested for 30 days on charges of crime.
There is at present 'no provision' to remove a sitting minister if they are accused of a crime. Only a Member of Parliament or a member of legislative assembly (MLA) can lose their seat (and if they’re a minister, effectively their ministership) if they are convicted for a crime that carries a punishment of two years imprisonment or more.
Under the proposed amendment, the law for a sitting Prime Minister has been tightened.
“ ... in case of the Prime Minister, who for any period of thirty consecutive days during holding the office as such, (if) is arrested and detained in custody, on allegation of committing an offence under any law for the time being in force, which is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more, shall tender his resignation by the thirty-first day after such arrest and detention...."
The amendment says -- if he/she does not tender resignation, the person in office shall cease to be the Prime Minister with effect from the day falling thereafter,” the legislation said.
The new proposal in the Bills to be piloted by Home Minister Amit Shah proposed a new 5(A) clause in Article 75 of the Constitution.
“A minister, who for any period of thirty consecutive days during holding the office as such, is arrested and detained in custody, on allegation of committing an offence under any law for the time being in force, which is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more, shall be removed from his office by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister to be tendered by the thirty-first day, after being taken in such custody.”
It says that even if the PM’s advice “for the removal of such minister is not tendered to the President by the thirty-first day, he shall cease to be a Minister, with effect from the day falling thereafter.”
The list of government business in the Lok Sabha showed that the Centre will introduce three bills – The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill and The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill – in the Lower House on Wednesday.
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