Rajya Sabha chairman revokes suspension of 11 members ahead of Budget Session

Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has revoked the suspension of 11 members of the House who were held guilty of breach of privilege by the House panel. According to the Vice President's office sources, Chairman Rajya Sabha invoked the authority vested in him including under Rules 202 and 266 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) to revoke their suspension enabling the members to attend the Special address by the President to be held on January 31, 2024.

The Committee of Privileges of Rajya Sabha has held 11 members that were Jebi Mather Hisham, Dr L Hanumanthaiah, Neeraj Dangi, Rajmani Patel, Kumar Ketkar, GC Chandrashekhar, Binoy Viswam, Sandosh Kumar P, M Mohamed Abdulla, Dr John Brittas, and AA Rahim guilty of breach of privilege and contempt of the Council, it added. It had further recommended that the period of suspension already suffered by the Members be treated as sufficient punishment for the transgression, the sources said.

The Report was presented to the House. However, taking note of the situation that the suspended Members would not be able to attend the Special Address of President Droupadi Murmu to both the Houses of Parliament assembled together, under Article 87 of the Constitution of India, for the first time in the new building of the Parliament, the Committee presented the Report to Chairman Rajya Sabha.