Parliament amends rules to prevent hasty president impeachment
The rules were passed with the support of 64 out of 65 members present.
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By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
Parliament on Wednesday passed amendments to its rules, making it more difficult to remove the President or Vice President from office.
The current 20th parliament has been following the rules of the 19th parliament.
The General Committee of the Parliament has completed the amendment of the rules within the past two months and submitted them to the Parliament on Wednesday with some changes.
The rules were passed with the support of 64 out of 65 members present.
The General Committee's major amendment to the Rules of Procedure of the 19th Parliament is to change the times and deadlines for the procedures required by the Parliament when removing an incumbent President or Vice-President from office.
The result of the amendments is that there is no opportunity to decide such a case in a hurry.
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The seven-member committee constituted to investigate a motion to remove the President and Vice-President shall complete the investigation within 10 days of receipt of the motion; the report used to be completed within a maximum of five days
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Its first meeting must be held with at least 24 hours notice to members; it used to be a minimum of six hours notice
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A minimum of five days notice must be given if any person is to be summoned to the Committee; it used to be a minimum of two hours notice
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To respond in writing within seven days from the date of sending the report of the Committee of Inquiry to the President and Vice-President; previously, the written response had to be made within two days
According to the report of the General Committee on the Revision of the Rules of Parliament, the reason given for the change was that the members of the committee were not satisfied that the times and deadlines given in the previous rules were adequate.
