Rajya Sabha ethics committee may terminate Mallya's membership

Pressure continues to mount on Vijay Mallya as the Rajya Sabha ethics committee has recommended the erstwhile king of good times' membership be terminated.  Mallya has been given a week's time to respond either in person or through his lawyer, said Karan Singh, chairman of the committee. If Mallya responds within the given timeframe, the panel will look into the merits of the response to take a final call.In a step closer to initiating his deportation, thegovernment had yesterday revoked the passport of Mallya, who is believed to be in the UK after leaving India on March 2.The committee had sought details of the liabilities on Mallya's airline Kingfisher from 13 banks, which furnished their replies according to which the total liability onMallya's company is Rs 9431.65 crore. Of this IDBI's liability alone is Rs 1687.04 crores followed by the Rs 1223 crore by Punjab National Bank."We have examined the entire issue related to Mallya's case. The documents that we had sought from banks have also come. There was a unanimous view in the panel that he should be expelled from the House membership. But still we have decided to give him a week time to tell us whatever he has to say. The next meeting of the committee has been fixed on May 3, when we will take a final decision," Singh told reporters.JDU President Sharad Yadav, who is also a panel member said,"Mallya should be expelled from the Rajya Sabha and he will be expelled. His  membership is almost gone now. This is the firm view of the committee. It is final that his membership will go. He has been given the time to complete the procedure".CPI-M General Sitaram Yechury said that the opinion in the committee was that Mallya has no right to remain a member of Rajya Sabha.The committee had sought details of the liabilities on Mallya's airline Kingfisher from 13 banks, which furnished their replies according to which the total liability on Mallya's company is Rs 9431.65 crore. Of this IDBI's liability alone is Rs 1687.04 crores followed by the Rs 1223 crore by Punjab National Bank.KC Tyagi, member of JDU said, he is glad the committee recommended termination of Mallya's membership to set an example in the society. Tyagi adds, he is ashamed that a Rajya Sabha member is tagged an economic offender.Meanwhile, the consortium of bankers led by the State Bank of India, has complained to the Supreme Court that Mallya's move of not disclosing details of his overseas assets indicates a lack of bonafide. Watch videos for more details(with inputs from PTI)