PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 783
*Khwaja Inait Ullah (Bihar) : Is Mr. Mudgal now a Member of the house or not ?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: That is exactly what we are deciding. My view was that he is no longer a Member. I am prepared to hear any arguments to show that he continues to be a Member, and therefore the operative portion also holds good.
So far as the earlier portion is concerned, I have not seen any precedents to the contrary that once this House is seized of the matter of contempt, merely by a unilateral act of the other person, it will lose its jurisdiction. So far as the operative portion is concerned, if he has already resigned there is no question of expulsion. If he has not resigned the question of expulsion comes in. Therefore it is a narrow point as to how far the oprative portion can be passed by this house. I would like to hear the Hon. the Law Minister and also any other hon. Member who would like to speak on this matter.
Dr. Ambedkar: So far, Sir, I have submitted that it will not be open to make the resignation valid by expunging certain portions, because under rule 176A the power to expunge is confined only to the proceedings and to the debates. The letter of resignation does not form part of the debate and proceedings.
My second submission is of a totally different sort and it is this. When a question arises as to the propriety of a resignation, who is the authority to decide it ? My submission is that when any such question arises, the authority to decide it is the house itself. You will allow me, Sir, to refer to a speech which I delivered in the Constituent Assembly in this very question on an amendment moved by Mr. Kamath. I said that as a matter of fact the resignation is submitted to Parliament, because the purpose of resignation is to dissociate himself from the body, namely the Parliament to which he was elected. The Speaker or the Deputy Speaker is merely a channel of communication to the House. I said in the course of that debate that although theoretically the resignation is to the collective body of people called Parliament, it would
*P. D., Vol. 14, Part II, 25th September 1951, pp. 3277-79